Maze to the hearts
by Jennison Silverye
Summary: Scorpius likes Rose but she already has a boyfriend. What will happen? Does Rose even like him? My first fanfic so please read and review. I do not own the characters.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in the story.**

**This is my first fanfic so please read and review. I know it may be long and draggy now, but please bear with it. At least give the story a chance. Thank you. **

Chapter 1: Table of Betrayal

"_Lumos," he murmured casting a strong beam of light from the tip of his wand and squinted, taking a few seconds before his eyes adjusted to the blinding gleam. He had no idea what he was doing, or where he was going, taking a little hike down the isolated hallways towards the impending darkness ahead of him. He was just heading towards where his feet were carrying him, and god knew where that was._

_His back ached in protest of the cold draft that occasionally blew past, wanting to head back to the cozy refuge back in the Gryffindor dormitory, but for once, he was not in control of his limbs, just a measly little slave to his body parts. He growled, how he hated times like this where he succumbed to himself, not being able to make decisions. The shadows that clung on to his robes and the walls surrounding him were starting to make him feel tingly with unease, and he disliked that feeling, it made him feel like a coward. _

'_You are not a coward,' he reminded himself, desperately trying to warm himself with his free arm by rubbing it against the sleeve of his robe. The attempt was fruitless, the icy wind still drifted down his neck causing him to shudder. Whatever stood at the end of the line had better be worth it, if not he swore he was going to chain himself to his bed at night, whatever the consequence. He was not going to risk another night, creeping down passages feeling like a popsicle. _

_Pacing, he made another turn round the corridors and found himself travelling down a flight of stairs leading towards the balcony – his __favourite__ haunt__ whenever he needed some time alone. 'Why bring me here?' the thought pondered in his mind, his curiosity piqued, it didn't make any sense. _

_Then, his eyes caught sight of a familiar silhouette leaning forward against the balcony porch and his heart practically lunged out of its ribcage. It was her, his best friend's cousin. The girl who graced every single test with ease, the only girl whose mouth wouldn't start drooling whenever he passed, the girl who had managed to resist his charms, and the girl who had stolen his heart. _

_Wait. He couldn't be in love with her. He couldn't. That was absurd. He already had a girlfriend, the daughter of one of his father's good friends, Allison Goyle. He loved her, didn't he? After all, they had been going out ever since fourth grade, surely, it must have taken __**some**__ affection for them to last together that long. She was a well known flirt, and he, a cassanova. If they didn't love each other, they would have long dumped the other party for some other person. That was the case in all his previous relationships, and he was pretty sure it was the same with Allison. But no, what he felt for Allison was different from what he felt for the girl standing right in front of him. With Allison, he felt at ease; when she kissed him, he would feel bliss tugging at his heart. However, just the sight of this girl would knock the breath out of him, every second with her drowned him in ecstasy, he just couldn't explain it. _

_Perhaps it was the way her loose, wavy auburn hair drifted in the breeze, his eyes travelled down her body and eyed ravenously at the way her clothes seemed to tug at her curves. Her smooth porcelain like skin… _

_Ooof. _

_He tripped over the last step of the stairs and found himself sailing forward before he managed to grip the handles near the staircase, preventing him from falling and making a mockery out of himself in front of the girl he liked. Or loved. Idiot, he chided himself lightly, stop being so distracted by her. _

_The noise seemed to startle her as she whipped her head around instinctively, her hair flitted across the sky with such gracefulness, it was intriguing to watch. _

"_Oh, it's you Scorpius. What took you so long? I was convinced you weren't going to turn up for our secret rendezvous," she said shyly, snapping him out from his trance. "Erm…… hi Rose," he stuttered, mentally slapping himself for being so preoccupied with her hair. For goodness sake! It was just hair for crying out loud. And what was with the stuttering, Rose might get the impression that he was another of those imbecile fools. He had never lost his cool demeanour in front of girls, it was the girl's who lost theirs while talking to him, if they even had one to start with. _

"_I kind of forgot about it, it was my feet that dragged me here, if not I would probably still be in bed right now, sorry," he apologised, tucking his wand into his robes. _

_She shook her head and giggled. It rang like silver belles in his ears. "It's alright, you came in the end. Now that's all that matters." She ambled towards him, her blue eyes bore into his, enticing him to step forward as well. A surge of emotions welled up inside him, anxiety, excitement, confusion, bliss. He could feel more adrenaline pumping in his veins with every step he or she took. _

_Now, only a foot away from each other, he saw her lean towards him, her breath pouring full force onto his face as she pressed her body against his and pulled his face towards hers. They were right about to kiss when he realised what he was doing, It was wrong, it was very wrong. He had a girlfriend, he couldn't be doing this. And yet, he couldn't pull away, at least not when she was only a few centimetres away…_

"_Nooo!" he cried out. At that moment, everything in his vision vanished and the faint glow of the moonlight slipped into darkness. _

His eyelids flew open as he bolted upright, before realising that he was still in the Gryffindor dormitory propped up against his bed, not on some balcony porch meeting up with a girl. He flushed upon remembering that he was about to kiss her when the dream ended and felt a sudden rush of gratitude for choosing to wake up at that time.

"Keep it down will you Scorpius, I want to sleep," Albus – Scorpius's best friend, groaned shifting uncomfortably under the blankets, obviously detesting the fact that he was awoken from his peaceful slumber.

"Oh… sorry, bad dream," Scorpius mumbled, the sweat trickled down his forehead like a leaking water faucet. However, the only reply he got was snores. Well, at least his friend wasn't preaching about the negative effects of waking people up and unearthly hours and he was deeply thankful for that.

Turning back to his pillow, he lay on his bed, but the instant he shut his eyelids, the image of Rose would immediately zoom back into his mind, how her eyes sparkled faintly in the moonlight, her auburn hair framing her heart-shape face. It was most disconcerting, how much she appealed to him. It was frightening.

_What about Allison?_

He had almost forgotten about Allison. He could cheat on both of them, going out on secret rendezvous like his dream suggested, but Scorpius wanted to remain faithful to Allison, as long as they were together, so as to prove that he was not all just a playboy, and that he could be serious if he wanted to. And this Rose matter was complicating his life, haunting him even in his dreams. It was maddening.

_You big fat cheater, you are cheating two people out of their feelings. How could you be so heartless?_

Scorpius heart clenched at the word 'cheater', though he knew it was true. He was thinking about another girl and yet he was unwilling to part with his current girlfriend. At least not yet, until he was sure of Rose's feelings for him, and that was extremely selfish of him.

"Argghhh…" he growled softly, not wanting to wake Albus up. If he was going to continue this debate with his heart any longer, he was going to snap. He rubbed his eyes and got out of his bed, he wasn't going to sleep anyway.

Heading over to his wardrobe to get ready for breakfast which was in two hours time, Scorpius made a mental note to try and not think of Rose for the day and instead, concentrating on how good his girlfriend looked. Sighing, he shook his head at himself for getting trapped in such a problem, before reaching out to grab a new robe.

*****

"Hurry, I heard that Snape's in a grumpy mood today, you don't want to be given detention for being late for Potions class right?" Albus said breathless, dragging poor Scorpius through a throng of students lounging around the corridors. Scorpius did not bother to point out that it was mainly Albus's fault that they were late, all because he had insisted on staying behind to finish all the cream tarts. Albus never did listen and all his advice and criticism usually fell on deaf ears.

"Not that I'm surprised, Snape has been in a grumpy mood ever since the first day he joined Hogwarts," Scorpius commented to his friend, trying to edge his way through the mad rush.

They entered the dungeon, relieved to find that Professor Snape had yet to arrive and plopped down on a seat at the back of the class which was not yet taken. The class turned unusually quiet, the moment the stern faced Professor entered.

"Take out your Potions textbook and turn to page two hundred and thirteen," Snape ordered as the Potions book on Scorpius's table flipped open automatically. Scorpius groaned upon seeing that one of the ingredients were mashed up scarab beetles. He hated getting his hands and robes filthy.

Suddenly, a flurry of black robes caught his eye as the student rushed past, panting badly. It took a second before he realised it was Rose. "Sorry I was late Professor… but …Professor McGonagall wanted to meet me to discuss… with me my… progress on my transfiguration class."

Professor Snape frowned at her and pointed towards the vacant seat next to Scorpius. He could feel his heart beating forcefully against his ribcage when Rose approached his direction and sat right beside him. "Hi," she smiled a lopsided smile, pulling out her Potions textbook and manually flipped to page two hundred and thirteen.

Scorpius was speechless, he just couldn't seem to get a simple greeting out of his mouth, the words were plain stubborn.

Rose gazed at him. "Are you alright?" she asked concerned, her blue eyes scanning every inch of his face.

"Erm… yeah," he managed to choke out a reply and swiftly turned to face Albus. Albus shot him a look. _That guy always seems to be so strange around my cousin, I wonder why?_

Scorpius saw it and blushed deeply, then pretending to be occupied with the lesson, he drove his attention to his scarab beetles and started mashing them in a hurry.

_Squash, splat, squash,_ he pounded the scarab beetles, venting all his confusion on the poor creatures that laid on the table. _She's just a girl, why can't you handle her?_ Scorpius growled in frustration, what was it about this girl that made him feel so uptight and anxious, he just could not comprehend.

_Pound, smash, pound- _

"I am aware Mr. Malfoy that you are very concerned about having to keep in shape to capture the ladies' heart, but I am sure that the last time I checked, Potions class was not a body building session," a sarcastic remark came from behind, "Or perhaps, the beetles had a riff with you in your past life."

Scorpius turned behind, startled to see that Professor Snape was standing right there. Apparently, he had heard the noise conjured by his mashing and come to investigate. The rest of the class were now staring at him, some trying to suppress their giggles as the Professor continued to sneer at the slight dents formed on Scorpius's table.

"Well of course," Snape added with a glance at Rose, "No doubt you might want to show off your strength to impress this young lady beside you." Scorpius scowled, he could feel embarrassment searing in him as the seconds droned on, his face turning into a beetroot at the mention of Rose. He knew that Snape was enjoying his reaction from the taunting and tried to remain calm, however it was hard not to be apprehensive, given how annoying Snape was.

Chorus of laughter erupted in the dungeon, and Scorpius could tell that they too were enjoying the free show. Hoping that the Professor would finally leave him in peace, Scorpius pulled the cauldron closer and tipped some of the mashed up scarab beetles in, before resuming the mashing. However, Snape was not yet satisfied and went on commenting, "That's since she doesn't seem to have any strength in her arms, an effect of one of those idiotic dieting schemes girls seem to come up with these days to look good. You two should learn to be less concerned about your looks like your friend, Potter over here who doesn't even bother to comb his hair in the morning." Snape shook his head at Albus's messy hairdo and scorned. Albus face fell at the statement and tears were brimming in Rose's eyes.

If Scorpius had been embarrassed, he was now furious, picking on him was one thing, picking on his best friend and Rose was another. Despite the urge to retort at the Professor right then, he willed himself to stay silent, seething rage through his teeth. He knew Snape was deliberately trying to provoke him so as to deduct points from his house Gryffindor, which would be used to decide on the champion house for the year as Gryffindor had been the champion house for many years running with Slytherin, Snape's house, a close second. Instead he started slicing the ginger roots at breakneck pace, being done with the scarab beetles.

Realising that his taunts were not working, Snape left their side and continued his patrol around the class, resuming the search for any other unlucky Gryffindors to pick on.

"That was mean," Albus whined softly at Snape's comment, tugging at his messy fringe. "It's remarkable that you didn't burst into an outrage just now." Scorpius did not reply, just focusing his attention on the ginger roots, his vision was starting to blur with fury and he could feel the slight tremble of his hands as he gripped the knife. Albus sighed and turned back to his job, he had rarely seen his friend this furious. It was scary to witness. Rose too seemed disturbed by it, her eyes gazed at Scorpius's ginger roots uneasily.

"Scorpius, the roots are fine enough," she muttered to him.

"No, they are not!" Scorpius snapped and faced Rose, his dagger chose to land at that moment, slicing his finger which was holding the ginger root in place. A stinging pain rose and blood gushed out from the wound. Scorpius quickly dug his finger into his robe pocket trying to stop the bleed.

Snape, who had apparently heard the commotion, took this chance to deduct away points from Gryffindor. "Throwing tantrums in class I see. Ten points from Gryffindor," a sly smile escaped from Snape's thin lips.

Scorpius rose his glare to meet Snape's, he had enough of Snape's annoying taunts. Who cared if they were going to lose more points or earn detentions? Scorpius was on the verge of exploding.

"I am not throwing a tantrum, and you know why none of the students or teachers ever like you? Cause you are annoying! You take pleasure in other's pain and misery! No wonder you never got married. No wonder you never had any friends!" Scorpius retorted icily, his chest rising and falling. Snape was taken back. None of his students had ever dared to talk back to him like that in his entire life of teaching at Hogwards. Snape's eyes gleamed dangerously. "Further fifty points from Gryffindor, plus another month of detention for talking back to the teacher," Snape said with animosity.

The rest of the lesson went on in awkward silence before the chime of the bell rang overhead, signalling the end of class.

"You are dismissed," Snape hissed to the class and strode away. To avoid any more outbursts, Scorpius dumped all his ingredients into bag with his Potions book and attempted to rush out of the room but Rose stopped him.

"I'm sorry Scorpius, I didn't mean to get you into trouble. Please let me see your finger, I could help with the pain," Rose apologised sincerely and to reach for Scorpius's injured hand.

"Back off, it doesn't hurt, and even if it did, I don't need your help," he bit back harshly before storming off in a fit of pique, leaving Rose behind feeling extremely crestfallen. "I was just trying t help," she told Albus.

"Don't fret about it, he's just in a bad mood today," Albus comforted his cousin, "Erm… bad dream I think. I will go after him. Trust me, he's not mad at you." With that, Albus hurried out of the door to find his fuming friend.

*****

Scorpius rammed his head against the wall, hurling verbal insults at himself. "You idiot! Why were you so rash? Now Rose thinks you hate her. Wait! Why are you so affected by Rose? Arghhhh!" Scorpius picked up his pillow and wrenched it towards the door, hitting poor Albus who was entering the room squarely in the face.

"Oww… That hurt a lot," Albus winced, rubbing his chin. He had been hoping his friend had calmed down by now, however, from what he had heard outside for the past ten minutes, it was pretty obvious he hadn't.

"Sorry, I didn't expect anybody to bother me at this time," Scorpius said, calming down a little. Now, he was starting to feel regret over his actions, from getting so worked up to throwing that pillow. It was certainly one of the worst days in his life.

"You know, you have been acting strange ever since this morning," Albus started, after he had picked the pillow up from the floor and placed it on Scorpius's bed. Scorpius remained silent, he knew how this conversation was going to turn out. Albus playing the psychologist, and him being the patient. "I know you aren't angry with anyone, but not everybody knows you that well. Rose pretty much thinks you are mad with her and she's probably stressed over how to get you to forgive her. She's my cousin and I don't want to see her upset."

"I know I acted like a jerk just now, I don't know why but for some reason I got off with a rough start this morning," Scorpius explained while Albus urged him to continue. "Remember my nightmare last night?" Albus nodded his head, recalling the deafening yell that stirred him from his sleep. "It's making me nuts, I can't stop thinking about it. It's frustrating." Scorpius slammed his fists against his head, trying to get the images of Rose out from his mind.

"What was your dream about?" Albus queried.

"Allison," he lied after a while. _It isn't really a lie, you did dream of Allison,_ he tried to convince himself. _Yah, you dream of betraying Allison, that's two different things,_ the voice in his head said. Scorpius looked down guiltily at himself, though Albus did not notice.

"Oh," Albus responded, love affairs. He was never very good at patching up couples, more like breaking them up. "Maybe you could talk to her. If you have any insecurities, you guys could trash it out. It's better than mopping around here throwing pillows at me," he added, silently praying that this time his advice would actually work. So far his success rate had been zero.

"Thanks Albus, I'm not sure if it's going to work, but it is better than doing nothing," Scorpius said, although he could not picture the conversation. What was he to say? _Oh hi Allison, nice to see that you are here. I wanted to talk to you about some insecurities I have been thinking about all morning. You think we could work out something so I wouldn't betray you and fall for Rose? _It sounded dumb and he would probably get a smack in the face for that. But still, he had to do something, he could not avoid it forever. It was probably better when he nipped the problem in the bud then waiting till everything got more complicated.

"I'll see you later Albus, right now I need to find Allison," Scorpius told Albus as he got up. Albus gave him the thumbs up, "Good luck." Scorpius shot him a smile, and turned to leave. Albus thought to himself silently, 'With me for a love counsellor, you are definitely going to need it.'

Scorpius went down the spiral staircase and peered around the Gryffindor common room hoping to find Allison, but it was empty besides Posse, Allison's best friend, who was busy painting her nails. Thinking that she might have an idea where Allison was, he approached her.

"Hello Posse," he said, tapping the blonde girl gently on her shoulder. Posse swiftly looked up and giggled, seeing that it was Scorpius.

"Oh... hi… you looking for some company?" Posse asked, batting her eyelashes flirtatiously at Scorpius. She flicked her gaze from Scorpius's face to her nails and cooed, "I'm kind of busy right now, but I am sure I can set aside some time for you, darling." Scorpius gagged at the word 'darling' , although he was aware that Allison and her friends had the habit of calling everyone 'darling'.

"Actually I was looking for Allison, I need to speak to her about something important," he said seriously. Posse seemed somewhat disappointed at the reply, however she pointed to the girl's room. "She's in her room," as she said that, her eyes glinted playfully, which could only be a bad thing. Scorpius thanked her and quickly departed for Allison's room, before Posse could fling herself at him.

Scorpius was outside Allison's door when he heard movement and muffled whispers coming from the room. Wondering what Allison could possibly be doing, Scorpius proceeded to turn the door knob. Realising that the door wasn't even closed, he took a peek into the room and froze at what he saw.

Allison was seated on the lap of a tall hunky guy with brown locks, kissing him passionately, her hands grabbing his head as the guy cradled her in his arms like a child. Scorpius felt a stinging blow in his chest, as though someone had punched him while he watched his girlfriend bitterly.

After all this time, he had thought he was the betrayer to be falling for Rose when Allison was busy catering time to her other boyfriends. The thought made Scorpius mad.

Unable to watch this any longer, he pushed the door fully open alerting the couple that someone had caught them red handed. Allison quickly broke off the kiss realising that someone was around and gasped when she realised that the person was none other than her boyfriend. The guy looked at him before glancing at Allison with a look of bewilderment.

Allison got up from the guy's lap, "What are you doing here?" Scorpius scoffed, "I should be asking what you were doing, with _him_! I wanted to talk to you to discuss with you about our relationship and it's apparent what you think about it. We are over." For Scorpius, the day couldn't get any worse, he messed up in Potions class, got himself a month of detention, found his girlfriend cheating on him when he though he was cheating on her and was now about to be dumped. God was so unfair to him.

Allison turned back to the guy and shot him a grin, "I'll see you later Evan darling, got to talk to little Scorpy here first." Nodding, he got up and shot out of the room.

Scorpius folded his hands across his chest, he muttered coldly, "We have nothing to talk about." Allison rose her perfect eyebrows, "Really? You said you wanted to discuss with me about our relationship. And I was planning to do so."

"How?" Scorpius asked, with mock sarcasm he added, "By telling me '_oh, it wasn't me who started the kiss, it was him and I just couldn't resist it.'_ There's no point, I saw it with my own eyes." Allison laughed at his statement, "No. Actually I came up with a proposition. Both of us get to benefit from it. I say we both break up for the time being, get together with other people, you know back to our previous ways. And after six months, we get back together again."

"Why?" Scorpius did not understand, this would make things extremely complicated as they would be neither together nor apart.

Allison sighed, twirling a strand of hair with her fingers, "Because we both love each other to much to part and yet we cannot stand being together only. Once a player in the love field, always a player." Scorpius could not help but agree that her idea made sense, they would be able to go out with others and once they were sick of them, they would be back as the great couple again. It was the only right decision.

"Ok, we will go ahead with your idea, but tomorrow, we will have to announce that our relationship is over. No girl's going to want a taken man," Scorpius pointed out. Allison agreed, "Of course. And once the six months are over, we will go back to seeing each other. Deal?"

"Deal."

"See you in six months time darling Scorpy," she said before strutting away. "Yah see you," Scorpius uttered.

Now that he and Allison had broken up, he was at a lost of what to do. He supposed he could confess his feelings to Rose and ask her to be his girlfriend, but it would not work, since there was a major problem with the capital letter M.

_Rose had a boyfriend. _

**I hoped you liked that. Reviews are gladly appreciated. Thank you. **


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in this fanfic**

**Yeah, it's my fault that I accidentally placed the character pairing as scorpius and Rosmerta so I fully deserve the fact that I got so few viewers and reviews. I could seriously do with more reviews though. Two reviews are well... pathethic. Still, it's better than none. For those who favourited, alerted and reviewed, thank you, I really apprecite it. Please continue to review. For those who came, read and didn't review, please review. My apologies if you think my story is boring, it's probably going to remain boring for the next few chapters, but I promise it will be more interesting later, besides no story is ever interesting right away (well there are some but well. I also have to thank my friend who spotted the mistake in the pairing and told me immediately. If not right now, I probably would have 0 reivews and 0 favourites/alerts. And now, please continue to read the story.**

Chapter 2: Rumours

_Back off, it doesn't hurt, and even if it did, I don't need your help. _

Scorpius's cold words replayed in Rose's mind. She had flinched when he had said that, she had just been trying to help. Although Albus had told her his bad attitude towards her was probably due to his nightmare, and not because of her, she still felt miserable. It was a feeling that she could not shake off no matter how hard she tried, especially when the idea that he somewhat detested her crossed her mind.

_He hates you. _

What started off as a doubt was slowly turning into a fact to her. She could recall the look on his face when she had greeted him, unease was sprawled in his expressions, his shoulders hunched backwards. It took him a moment before he greeted back, and it was more of a cough, like he had forced it out of his throat, which she was sure he did. A sign that he was uncomfortable around her, moreover, when was the last time Scorpius had stuttered to a girl? She could not remember, Scorpius had always appeared to be calm and collected around them.

That was not the only occasion where he had behaved like that, there had been previous incidents. But before all the awkwardness, they had been good friends, since he was Albus's best friend and she was Albus's cousin. It had all started this year, the coldness, the stuttering, and she did not know why. The memory rang distinctively in her mind.

_It had been the start of the school term, as part of the Hogwarts tradition, a start-of-term feast was held in the Great Hall to welcome the students back to school. The sorting of the new students into houses had just ended and everyone was anxiously awaiting the start of the feast. _

_Right after their headmaster had given them the signal to tuck in, the food magically filled themselves with delicacies on the golden platters laid on the table and the students helped themselves to generous servings of the food. _

_Rose had been sitting by herself at the Gryffindor table, waiting for her cousin, Albus, whom she had saved a seat for, to show up. She was starting to get worried, Albus just could not resist the temptation of food, especially those served on the start-of-term feast, yet he had not arrived. _

_Just when she was about to leave the table to search for him, two figures appeared near the table, drenched to the skin. She instantly recognised them as Albus and his friend Scorpius and waved to them to get their attention. Spotting her, Albus hurriedly approached, pulling Scorpius who was busy chatting to a girl from Ravenclaw along with him. _

"_Hi Rose," he greeted, once he had settled on the chair, as he eyed the food greedily before loading his plate with several helpings of steak. "Hi Albus, hi Scorpius, it's good to see you guys again," she smiled, though her eyes could not help but travel to Scorpius's damp figure. His blonde hair was slicked back due to the rain and she found herself wondering about how good he looked in his new black robes, even soaked. _

_She was still checking him out when he realised that she was staring at him and fired her a questioning glance. "Hi Rose, you… erm… wanted to say something?" he asked uncertainly as she blushed furiously in embarrassment. "Nothing," she blurted a little too quick, then in a more collected tone, she added, "I was just wondering what took you so long to come. I was starting to get worried, Albus is never late for a meal and I was about to send a search party for you guys." _

_Albus looked up with his mouth full of steak and laughed, "Oh Rose, you don' 'ave to worry. I'm sure we can 'ake care of ourselves. Oh, and I haven' 'ank you for saving us a seat. I'm glad I don' 'ave to stand throughout the feast just to eat." Scorpius went and sat beside Rose which was opposite Albus, shaking his head. "Well, there's always the seats near the teacher's table and the teacher's would never let any student stand anyway," he pointed out. Albus spat out his food and stared at him in shock, "What? With the teachers staring at me, I will never be able to eat in peace. If we had to eat there, it would be all your fault." _

_Rose giggled at her cousin's reaction, and realised that Scorpius was still looking at her. "My fault?" he queried, briefly turning to Albus, "I was not the one who accidentally knock my textbook out of the window when we reached the school." "If you were paying more attention to holding your textbooks then staring at girls like Rose, it wouldn't have happened," Albus scoffed. Both Rose and Scorpius flushed and remained silent. _

_She could feel the atmosphere tense up around her, the buzzing around them had faded away into the background, while Scorpius prickled with unease in his seat. The next few minutes went on in awkward silence to Rose's frustration. Unable to stand it any longer, Rose nudged her cousin's foot with her shoe, trying to get him to apologise for what he said. _

"_Stop nudging me," Albus grumbled irritably at Rose who was then, kicking his shoe lightly. "Just apologise," she hissed, leaning forward. "Fine," he said and swallowed his steak. "Look Scorp, I am really sorry for what I said just now. It was just a casual remark, though you were staring at the gir-" he broke off as Rose kicked him in the shins. "Sorry," he said, shooting Rose a death glare. _

"_There's no need for you to apologise Albus, you were right. I should be paying less attention to the girls," Scorpius uttered with a tiny laugh, "Just forget it."The tension between them relaxed, however, for the rest of the feast, not much talking went on between the three of them. Scorpius refused to have a conversation with Rose and seemed to angle his body away from her. She felt hurt by his actions, but she convinced herself it was only going to last for the day…_

A day had dragged on into days, then weeks and even months. Whenever they passed by each other, he would just treat her as if she was transparent, on certain rare meetings, greetings would be exchanged. Rose hated the way things were happening, she wished that Scorpius would stop avoiding her and for heaven's sake just tell her what was wrong about her. She wanted their relationship to return to how it had been last year as friends, where they could chat casually, study together, or gang up to tease poor Albus.

"Rose, if you aren't eating that mutton casserole, can I have it?" Albus asked eyeing the casserole with great interest, snapping her from her thoughts. Rose stared at her untouched casserole and pushed the plate to her cousin. "You can have it, I'm not hungry," she said and took a few mouthfuls of the mango pudding instead.

Albus was about to tuck into the casserole when he realised how down casted Rose looked. "Rose? Are you sure you don't want the casserole? It's really good," he said, to emphasize his point, he took a whiff at it and licked his lips.

Rose just stared at him blankly, "No really, I'm not hungry." It wasn't exactly the truth, she was famished from skipping her lunch but she was too depressed to take in anything and Albus knew that. He had observed that Rose had been glum and moody the whole day ever since the incident at Potions class. Occasionally, she would cast a look around the Gryffindor table, her eyes rest at Scorpius who was also prodding at his food half-heartedly and he had a slight idea what the problem was.

"You are still thinking about the incident at Potions class?" Albus queried and Rose's head shot up immediately. "No," she denied and caught Albus's dubious expression. He knew.

"Ok, I am still thinking about the incident," she huffed. "Scorpius has been so strange around me lately. It's like he hates me or something."

Albus's eyes nearly popped out of his sockets. Rose thought that Scorpius hated her, how ridiculous. He was aware of the strange treatment Scorpius had been giving Rose, but it was not because he hated her. Albus knew when Scorpius hated someone as he would often sneer at them or whine to Albus about them. For Rose, it was a different case, he would try to avoid her if possible, something he would not bother if he hated the person. Albus had also often caught Scorpius ogling at Rose from afar and always resisted the urge to smack him lightly in the head, such as the time aboard the Hogwarts express and that was definitely not a sign of hatred. However Albus did not blame his cousin for misinterpreting Scorpius's actions, considering the fact that the only time they spoke, Scorpius had been on the verge of ripping his hair out, giving her cold replies. No wonder she was so depressed, who wouldn't be?

"Rose, he doesn't hate you, at least I don't think so," Albus assured her. Rose commented sarcastically, "Yeah, sure he doesn't hate me. Since the way he show he cares is by avoiding me and acting like a jerk."

"Rose, I understand why you think he hates you, but trust me, what he did has nothing to do with hating you. He's just been having a rocky time with Allison, and you are one of the girls he is the closest to, so he's showing his emotions to you," Albus explained, trying to relieve the sad frown from Rose's face.

"Really?" Rose asked, not really believing in Albus's sincere attempts of cheering her up.

"Yes, in a weird way," he added. "Doesn't mean that he behaves differently towards you means he hates you. And anyway, if he does hate you, I will bash him up, ok?" Rose giggled, a tiny smile forming on her lips to Albus's relief.

"Good, now I can finally eat my mutton casserole," he cheered and held a slice of it to his mouth before Rose interrupted. "Who said that it was yours? I'm famished and you already had your share," she said, pulling the plate over towards her. Albus pouted, and Rose grinned. If he wanted her to cheer up, that was a tiny price he would have to pay, and besides, he did offer it back to her.

"Fine, you eat it, but at least let me have one tiny bite," he begged comically. "No, it's mine," she said and was greeted by a groan.

*****

Rose was starting to get annoyed by the high pitch buzz that filtered the passage. Girls everywhere were squealing with glee, straightening their robes and checking their hair, people would think that a prince was going to land in the school any minute.

"Did you hear?" Sarah Longbottom, Rose's best friend quipped only to get an eye roll from Rose. "I was hoping to get some peace from you and here you are, buzzing like those boy-crazy girls I see," she said, walking up the stairs to the entrance to Gryffindor Tower.

"So you haven't heard?" Sarah assumed. Rose stopped and turned to her friend, "No. And I don't want to. Because firstly, I'm not boy-crazy, secondly, I'm still not boy-crazy, thirdly, did I mention that I'm not boy-crazy?"

"Aww… come on, it's news of the century, everyone is talking about it, regardless of their gender. You are bound to come across the topic and I don't think you want to seem like an idiot when they talk about it right?" Sarah said as she tried to catch up with Rose who had walked away.

"Password?" a fat lady in a pink silk dress from the large portrait that concealed the entrance asked as they approached. "Lemon drops," they replied. The portrait swung forward to reveal a hole in the wall which they both climbed through into the Gryffindor common room.

"Rose! Just listen, please?" called Sarah when Rose continued to ignore her.

"Fine," Rose snapped in irritation, "I don't get your news of the century. For goodness sake, it's not like a prince was coming to Hogwarts or something. You people are nuts." Sarah studied her response for a moment, "Actually Rose, you are quite close."

"Really? Some prince is coming to Hogwarts?" Rose asked with disbelief etched on her face. Sarah shook her head, "No. But you won't believe it." Rose tapped her foot, waiting for her to continue.

Sarah cast a glance around, satisfied that no one was paying attention to them, she said excitedly, "I heard during Herbalogy class that Scorpius broke up with Allison." Rose froze upon hearing that, _Scorpius broke up with Allison._ Albus had told her that Scorpius was having a rough time with his relationship with Allison, though she had dismissed it then as an attempt to get her out of her frowns. All of a sudden, the misery she felt from Scorpius's actions vanished and in replacement, a pinch of sympathy. Scorpius might be a flirt, but that did not mean he didn't deserve a lasting relationship. Something big must have occurred for the break up to take place, and she wondered if the fault had been Scorpius's or Allison's, she was betting on Allison.

"Hello? Are you there?" Sarah waved her hand in front of Rose. Rose blinked before realising that Sarah was trying to catch her attention and nodded. "Yah, I am there," said Rose and added, "Anyway, I still do not see why everyone is so excited about this."

Sarah scoffed, "Oh yah, you aren't fooling anyone with that Rose. The moment I told you Scorpius broke up, you were lost up there." She pointed to her mind and twirled her fingers. Rose glared back at her, "I was not, why would I be?"

Sarah shrugged her shoulders, "How would I know." A couple of squeals were then heard as they travelled to Rose's ears. Her mind registered it immediately: Socrpius's fan club.

"Speak of the devil," Sarah whispered and Rose wasn't surprised to see Scorpius entering the room with a whole troop of fan girls surrounding him. From the pink heart-shaped cards they were holding, Rose could deduce that they were hoping to be the lucky one that Scorpius would go out with next. She watched as he tried to make his way out of the mob only to be pulled back by fans and shook her head, she would never understand the reason why girls would fawn over him like that. She would admit that he was good looking, hell, gorgeous even, but he was still just a common student, he didn't deserve all the attention.

"Ladies! Look! I know you girls have heard of my breakup with Allison and probably want to ask me out for today but I am not interested. I am very tired and the only thing I want to do now is sleep, ok?" Scorpius bellowed to everyone's astonishment and pried himself free from the grip of a girl.

"Surely you could do with some company," the girl who had been clinging on to him said meekly. "No, for once just leave me alone. I have feelings too. How would you like it if someone kept pestering you? Go!" he retorted, the girl let out a tiny whimper and tears could be seen brimming from her eyes. Rose saw it and bristled slightly with anger. She was a young girl for goodness sake, how could he treat her as if she was dirt? Rose made up her mind to lecture Scorpius on it.

"Come, I want to have a word with Scorpius," Rose told Sarah and dragged her along. "What?" she said, not being able to understand the reason behind Rose's sudden decision.

Once the crowd of girls had dispersed, Rose marched up to Scorpius who was lying on the couch in front of the fire place. Upon hearing footsteps, Scorpius whipped his head around with a grunt of frustration and was thunderstruck when he realised it was Rose.

"What are you doing here Rose? Don't tell me you are here to ask me out too," Scorpius grumbled.

Rose fumed at his assumption, "Not every girl wants to go out with you, let's get that into that thick headed numbskull of yours. And in case you haven't noticed, I have a boyfriend and I don't two time people. Besides, you are a heartless proud jerk who thinks he's so good looking everyone loves him. Why would I want to go out with you?"

Scorpius flinched back, he had meant it as a weak joke, however, in his frustration with his life plus the weariness that dragged at his feet, the sentence had came out harsher than he had intended. He hadn't expected her to take it seriously, and was further more taken back by her comments on him. Before that, he had never known she had such an opinion of him. It jaded his pride and hearing the words delivered from her mouth pained him.

"I didn't mean it. But since you have that opinion of me that's good to know," he said darkly and turned to the fire.

The moment the words slipped out of her mouth, Rose had regretted it badly. She had said it in a fit of rage and didn't mean half the things mentioned. His reaction after that did not miss her and she felt coldness stab her heart when he had replied darkly. But the damage had been done, there was no taking back.

"Why are you here?"

Rose could barely find the words to answer his enquiry. All she had in mind when she had approached him was to give him a good telling off. Then, with the unexpected turn of events, she had forgotten what she had wanted to say in the first place and had ended up hurting both Scorpius and herself.

She gazed at Scorpius's face, unable to utter anything, instead, her eyes travelled down his facial features. Indeed, he was weary and tired, that was evident from the dark eye rings that were formed under his eye bags, proof of his sleepless nights. However, it wasn't just dark eye rings, Rose felt, his posture had appeared sluggish and beaten, and his eyes, they had lost the sparkle that was ever-present whenever he was in a fine mood. She knew he was hurt and so was she.

"I… I… I…" she stuttered, not knowing what to say.

"She was just accompanying me. I wanted to borrow your herbalogy book and I didn't dare to and Rose pulled me here," Sarah quickly blabbered, seeing how awkward the situation was.

"Oh. Sorry for the assumption, it was my fault," he apologised flatly and handed Sarah the herbalogy book from his bag.

"I'm sorry too, I shouldn't have yelled at you," Rose said softly, although only Sarah heard it.

"See you later at the Three Broomsticks I guess. Bye," Scorpius said as he got up from the couch and went up the stairs. "Bye," Rose said. She wanted to kick herself for everything that happened. Scorpius had been rash, hurting someone innocent along the way. Yet, she was worse, she had added salt to a victim's wounds, and now, she would have to suffer the consequences. If there was a chance they had been friends, Rose was sure that the chance was gone. Long gone.

"Rose? What went on down there?" asked Sarah. Rose looked towards her friend and bit back a tear, "I don't know. Though, thanks for helping me out there." Sarah smiled, "That's what friends are for. And I wanted to borrow the book anyway." Rose gave Sarah's hand a tiny squeeze to show her thanks and headed for the girl's dormitories.

*****

"We're finally here," Rose's boyfriend, Lysander Samadar, a boy with blonde locks said as he sat down at the table in The Three Broomsticks. It had been Albus's idea to hang out at the pub during their free afternoon at Hogsmade along with their friends Sarah, Lorcan, Scorpius and Amanda. They had all thought it would be a great idea to spend some time away from the castle but after the incident with Scorpius, Rose was starting to think that it was a bad idea.

"Heads up guys, your drinks are here," said Albus settling the tray down on the table and everyone made a rush grab for the cup with the most Butterbeer. Rose reached out for one, at the same time, five fingers clasped tightly around the handle of the Butterbeer.

She felt the fingers stiffen a little and she glanced up to see that it was Scorpius. _He must still be mad at me about this afternoon's incident, _Rose thought slightly depressed, seeing how his reaction.

"Sorry, you can have this cup," she told him and withdrew her hand. Scorpius quickly pulled it towards him and took a sip of the drink. "Can't you even wait a while before pulling the drink to yourself? It's not like anyone's going to snatch it," she lectured Scorpius silently and grabbed the last cup left.

"I totally miss this, I can't even remember when the last time I've been here was," Lysander remarked after taking a swig from his Butterbeer, leaving a white 'moustache'.

Rose turned to her boyfriend, "But it's only been two months, the last time we came here, we were on our first official date." Lysander gazed at her quizzically for a moment.

"Oh, that time. For a moment I forgot, but still two months is a long time. Quidditch and everything," Lysander reasoned. Rose mood dipped further, she could not believe that Lysander forgot about their first date, since he had been the one to suggest the idea. Yet, two months were indeed a long period of time.

As Rose drank her Butterbeer, she couldn't help but notice how bored she was getting. Lysander was too busy boasting about his recent achievements to his twin Lorcan hence Rose was unable to get a word in edgeways whereas Albus and Sarah were deeply engaged in their conversation that she felt it would be rude to interrupt. She would have loved to use the time to clear up the matters between Scorpius and her, however, he was already preoccupied, with Amanda rubbing herself gleefully against him while he caressed her cheek. Unable to stand the scene before her, she immediately looked away. A pit of nausea curled up in her belly making her want to get up and throw up in the bathroom.

_And to think that just now he was still mopping over breaking up with Allison._

Rose mocked recalling the incident that had happened earlier once again. Scorpius had claimed that he wasn't interested in going out with any girls then, and here he was whispering sweet nothings into another girl's ear, wiping the white froth off her lips. The guy sure moved on fast.

A pang of jealousy flooded in her as she continued to watch her friends. All of them were engaged in some activity with their dates while the only activity she could do was watching her date talk to his twin brother. It wasn't that she was against Lysander to hold a conversation with his brother, it was just that sometimes she wished he would pay her more attention, be more romantic, like the others. She sighed.

"Lysander, you have been talking to your brother for like the past half an hour, maybe you could pay more attention to me now?" Rose said tapping him on his shoulder lightly.

Lysander brushed her hand off, "Sorry Rose, could you wait a while more, I've got to finish telling my bro about how I scored the last point by knocking the Quaffle into the goal post."

But before he could even continue, Rose slammed her cup on the table and got up from her chair. "Look Lysander, I know you just can't stop boasting to your brother about your bloody achievements but can't you just spare some time for me? This is the only time we have together for the past four days and you are spending it talking to your brother? You get to see him everyday! Besides, he's heard you retell that Quaffle story at least six times already. I am starting to think that your achievements are all you think about. Some boyfriend you are. You can't even remember our first date!"

Lysander, abashed by Rose's actions, grabbed her hand called out to her. "Rose…"

She turned back sharply, "We have nothing to talk about. I'm leaving." With that, she stormed out of the Three Broomsticks, fuming on everything that happened. Her mind probing for the real reason for her frustration. Somehow, she knew that perhaps Lysander's treatment played only a small part in her tantrum, and the other large part was probably attributing to something she wasn't aware of herself.

**I hope you liked that. if you did, please press the green and white button at the bottom. If you don't well, review too, I am open to criticism, so I can make more improvements. Also, suggestions on whether you prefer longer chapters or shorter ones. Shorter chapters mean more cliff hangers and faster updates while long chapters mean you have to wait for at least a week for an update but a well rounded up chapter. So... please review:) Thanks. **


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything in this fanfic except for maybe it's idiotic plot. **

**Sorry for this late update, I don't wish to make this story seem like it has died or anything. It hasn't, and yes, it's still continuing, thanks to all those out there who kindly reviewed my story. it's just that school life is really busy these days and hopefully, once the holidays kick in, I can sit back and write to my hearts content. (Ok, so the holidays are like in one day's time.) In the last chapter I posed a question if you would prefer a longer chapter or a shorter chapter and there were more who responded that they would like a shorter chapter, so this chapter's hopefully shorter. For all those who reviewed, favourited, alerted, thank you. For those who just read the story, well, be a kind soul and please review. I need to know what I have done right, and what I have done wrong. Ok, just to clear things up a little, I am a novice at writing romance, in fact this is my first romance story, so if the character's reactions don't seem practical, please tell me. **

**And yeah, I realised all my reviewers all have something to do with 101. Hmm... coincidence? I hope so.**

**pottergrl101: Ok, this chapter's shorter. Sorry that it wasn't updated fast enough or anything. Next update will be way quicker. **

**hpswst101: ****Thanks for your reviews:) and also for pointing out to me the practicality of the last scene. I appreciate it. Don't stop reviewing, and hope this chapter is to your liking.**

**101-silentwhispers: My last chapter wasn't boring? Are you sure? *Gasps with happiness* Thank you. You are so sweet. I know you have been harping me for this chapter so hopefully now that it is up, you can update yours. You never did state if you like long or short chapters so hope you like this chapter. **

Chapter 3: Divination

Albus watched utterly thunderstruck as Rose stormed out of the Three Broomsticks and Lysander got up to chase after her. He was well aware of his cousin's hot temper but recently, her mood had been rather down, flaring up even at the tiniest little problem. Not that he blamed her for throwing a tantrum this time, Lysander had it coming. That jerk had forgotten about his first date with Rose and even neglected her just to brag to his brother. Still, he felt that Lysander's actions didn't exactly warrant him something close to a break up. There had to be something else that had triggered the response in Rose.

His eyes drifted to his friend sitting opposite him. His newest girlfriend was tapping him lightly on the shoulder, trying to get his attention, but Scorpius was somewhere else in the corner of his mind with his eyes glazed over. Albus guessed that he too, was shocked by Rose's sudden tantrum.

"Hey, Scorp! Your girlfriend's talking to you," Albus waved his palm in front of Scorpius's face.

"Huh? What?" Scorpius looked around being pulled from his thoughts. Albus shook his head and made a 'tsk tsk' sound.

"I said that your girlfriend was talking to you."

Scorpius nodded, then realising what Albus had said, he choked. "Wait! She is not my girlfriend! She wanted to go out with me and I decided that since we were going to Three Broomsticks, it wouldn't hurt if she tagged along."

Albus gave him a casual shrug as Amanda scowled. "Whatever you say Scorp. I was just joking, you didn't have to defend yourself like that. We know you are still grieving over the break up with Allison and you probably ain't in the mood for making new girlfriends anytime soon." Scorpius seemed dubious whether Albus had been sincere in his statement or making a sarcastic remark. Albus had the tendency to frequently mix sarcasm in with his words.

"Glad you know that. So what were you trying to tell me, Amanda?" Scorpius's voice turned to honey as he spoke to Amanda.

The next thing he knew, he felt a tight slap on his right cheek. Scorpius winced softly in pain and gazed up to see Amanda standing, getting ready to leave the pub.

"What did I do?" he muttered, rubbing his sore cheek with the back of his hand. "Nothing! I was just going to tell you how this had been such a brilliant afternoon for me and ask you how you felt about it. And then you had to be so defensive about how I wasn't your girlfriend and make me seem like I had forced you out on a date or something. I knew it was a stupid idea to go out with one of Hogwarts biggest flirt!" she exclaimed and dumped a cup of butterbeer over Scorpius's head. "Go sober up somewhere else."

Scorpius who was not particularly pleased being made a spectacle in a public place and dressed in soaked robes, kept silent and got up to let Amanda pass before settling back into his seat.

"Oh no, the goddess of love is angry with us! Two couples have broken up in just one hour already. Now all the couples here are going to end up quarrelling! We've got to warn them," Lorcan, who was every bit as eccentric as his mother Luna Lovegood, started sprouting in a haste.

"Calm down Lorcan, the goddess of love isn't angry with us. Look, Albus and I aren't quarrelling. And Amanda isn't technically a couple with Scorpius. Everything will be fine, just let them cool down," Sarah said to the anxious blonde. Scorpius folded his arms across his chest, stating that he disagreed but continued to remain silent.

"Really? Phew, if not, I'm going to ask my mum for a potion that can ward off such evil," Lorcan said.

"Yes, really, everything will be fine," Sarah assured, then in a lower tone, she mumbled to Albus, "At least I hope so, Scorpius and Rose have been acting strange recently."

Albus couldn't help but agree. He was not the only one who had noticed the change of attitude around the two, he just didn't feel like interfering. His cousin was strong enough to handle her own affairs and his best friend probably could fend for himself. But now, seeing how the two were actually behaving, he wasn't so sure he should just sit on the side fence.

It was not at all like Scorpius to blatantly point out that a girl he went out with was not his girlfriend, even if it was only going to be a one day relationship. He always had the kick of giving them the benefit of doubt if he really liked them. Mostly so that the girls could later boast to the rest with a made up tale that they had been his girlfriend once, although the number of girlfriends he had added up to be a huge figure.

Albus knew how much Scorpius treasured his relationship with Allison, he just didn't think it would affect Scorpius so much, and frankly, neither did he believe it would.

There was something that Scorpius and Rose were hiding, something that was causing them to be terribly sore and miserable about it. Albus couldn't stand eating humble pie any longer, he was going to find out.

*****

The only other teacher Scorpius could not stand besides Professor Snape was Professor Trelawny, his Divination teacher. It wasn't that the professor was mean or anything, it was just that she was extremely annoying. The way she looked, with her thick lock of curls flowing down to her shoulder and her beady eyes hidden behind her large rounded glasses reminded him sourly of Rita Skeeter – the pesky persistent little reporter. In addition, she was constantly making ridiculous predictions of the world coming to an end or the death of students born in a particular month. It was getting on his nerves, yet he didn't feel like dropping it, considering the fact that it was one of the easiest subjects to score in.

With a pounding dread, he lugged himself all the way to the North Tower where Divination was held. _I wonder what Trelawny is going to come up with this time round_, Scorpius thought as he crawled through the trapdoor. He silently wished that Albus had decided to tag along, however, the moment they had returned from Hogsmade, Albus had ran off with Sarah to the library and Scorpius wasn't keen on playing the second fiddle.

Scorpius sat in his armchair next to Lorcan and tried to focus his attention on the miniature model of a solar system that Professor Trelawny was undoubtedly going on and on about. With the distraction of the sweltering heat baking him, he could barely make out what was being said except for the words 'Venus' and 'crossing'. Not that he really bothered, his father had always told him, 'Don't listen to batty old Trelawny, the lesser you understand, the better. You are only taking it to pull up your lousy grades,' and Scorpius was pretty glad it was that way. Divination lessons were boring, and he was about to waste his precious attention on something he found idiotic.

"Scorpius, listen, this is huge," Lorcan prodded Scorpius in the shoulder only to receive a grunt.

"What is it? If it's another one of Trelawny's stupid predictions on death or disasters, then you can forget about it."

"No Scorpius, she's talking about how the crossing of Venus into Neptune is causing all those born in the month of late January to early February to encounter relationship-like problems," Lorcan told Scorpius his voice ringing with worry.

"So?" Scorpius did not see what the big fuss was about.

"You are born in early Feb!" exclaimed Lorcan clearly forgetting he was in the middle of a lesson. "You faced a break up with Allison and just now, you got dumped by Amanda! Can't you see…"

Scorpius slammed his hand over Lorcan's mouth immediately to stop him from blabbering out more details about his life for the whole class to hear, but it was too late. He could feel every single pair of eyes in the room landing on him for the second time of the week.

"Lorcan! You nitwit! Why the hell did you say all that out loud to the class?" he spat out between gritted teeth.

"You weren't listening," Lorcan whimpered and shrank back into his armchair.

Professor Trelawny eyes on the other hand were gleaming with excitement as they trailed Scorpius. "Did something happen? I knew it. This is why one must know the methods of prediction! One can never avoid what's going to happen, but one can prepare for it!" She paused to think of an example and pushed up her glasses.

"Such as if I knew I would die, I could pre-order a coffin so that I can die knowing that my body can rest in peace somewhere." Snickers erupted from the class with the end of the statement. "What's wrong with that?" Professor Trelawny queried scratching her head, confused.

Scorpius slapped his palm on his forehead. He couldn't figure out what he hated more, being publicly humiliated on purpose by Snape, or being embarrassed by Professor Trelawny's crazy ideas. Things could not go any worser for Scorpius. _God! I wish I could just apparate myself out of here or get swallowed up by Hagrid's Blast-ended shrewts!_

"Oh, poor darling Scorpy just got dumped by two girls. Does he need a huggy? Perhaps if you had known about it you could have brought a hanky with you to cry into," Craig, a Slytherin seeker mocked sensing Scorpius's discomfort. "Or perhaps he could have pre-ordered a coffin, least he die of _heart-break!_"

Scorpius bristled slightly, his blazing eyes caught Craig's and Craig sneered. "Or maybe the reason why the famous flirt got dumped was cause he played with too many hearts! Two-timer, no, infinity-timer!"

The whole class, including Professor Trelawny and Lorcan, catching the hostility between the two, made way for the two rival seekers.

"I dare you to say that to me one more time!" Scorpius seethed, his blood was gushing up his veins, and his face turned into a bright shade of red.

"Infinity-timer!" Craig said without a hoot.

_Infinity-timer, infinity-timer, infinity-timer… _The words seem to march on forever in his pounding head and Scorpius was on the verge of going bersak.

Before anyone could anticipate, Scorpius swiftly pulled out his wand from his robe and aimed it at Craig. "_Impedimenta!_" he bellowed.

**Did you like it? Did you not? Review please! I can't improve on it if you keep mum. Alright, since the pleas aren't really working, I'm going to hold my next chapter hostage, until I receive a minimum of 4 reviews. The more the better. So if you like the story, you might want to consider pressing that green button at the bottom there. Reviews and possibly favourites are the only things to keep me writing so hopefully you know what to do. The faster you review the better:) If you find the story plot or characters confusing, you can just ask me through a form of review or message. I will try to reply you to the best of my ability. Thanks.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter**

**AN: Holidays have kicked in so updates should have been quicker. But I sort of promised I wouldn't update until I received 4 reviews for the last chapter and well, I had to wait for quite some time before the fourth review came. For all those who are still following the story, thanks for giving the story a chance. I'm still hoping for reviews but I decided not to resort to pushing. Just review if you feel like it. Also, sorry for the lack in Rose and scorpius scenes in this two chapters, but I promise there will be a Rose and Scorpius scene in the next chapter so please continue to read. **

**Italics are for thoughts, spells and flashbacks.**

**Joelle8: Thanks for the review! It's nice to know that you like my story:) I hope you like this chapter too.**

**101-silentwhispers: Who's Craig... hmm... actually I'm not really sure, except for the fact he's a Slytherin seeker and possibly scorpius's rival, I mean they both played Quidditch. But he's just an OC to make the story livelier, (there's quite a few OCs in this story) and he dated Allison once before Scorpius snatched her from right under his nose. That's kind of why he doesn't like Scorpius. The butterbeer scene wasn't quite intended to be there when I first planned the story, it was just supposed to be some kind of reflection corner, but glad that I added it now since you like it. Hope this chapter is to your taste:) P.S. Update your story soon:)**

**hpswst101: Thanks for faithfully reviewing my story, it really makes my day:) I hope you like this chapter:)**

***er-hem*: Thanks for your review, nice to know your opinion about the story and glad that you like it. Hope you enjoy the story.**

Chapter 4: Talks and Bets

Craig's expression turned from one with a smirk into a look of trepidation as the spell hurtled towards him, about to crash into his chest. Instantly, he shut his eyelids bracing himself for the impact that was to come any moment then.

"_Protego!" _

A raucous voice pierced the ambience and a silver shield materialized in front of Craig shielding him from the jinx. Realising that he wasn't about to be thrown back, Craig opened his eyes to shoot a grateful glance at his saviour. And there stood a breathless Albus near the entrance with his wand outstretched glaring at Scorpius.

_Of all people, it had to be that mudblood Potter who rescued me, not Scorpius's enemy but his best friend. How ironic, _Craig thought to himself rather disappointed, though still pleased that he had evaded the spell.

"Scorpius… we need to talk," Albus said in a low dark tone which was just loud enough for everyone's ears.

"Whatever Albus," Scorpius hissed and made his way towards the trapdoor, taking note to sneer at Craig before he left the small packed room. Craig could feel a cackle dangling in his throat but held back the urge to let it out in case Scorpius decided to ambush him with another spell afterwards if he heard it. Then another thought crossed his mind.

_Hey! That idiot tried to jinx me. Isn't Trelawny going to give him detention? _

*****

"_Albus, we need to do something," Sarah had told him the moment she had pulled him away when they reached Hogwarts. _

"_Do what? And where are we going? I've got Divination in ten minutes."_

"_Skipping one miserable lesson won't kill you Albus."_

"_Oh yes it will."_

"_How?"_

"_I could be missing the prediction of my death."_

"_Oh gosh Albus stop kidding around."_

"_What? I'm perfectly serious."_

"_Albus…" _

"_Ok, fine. So what are we doing? I hope whatever it is, there's going to be food though."_

"_Albus!"_

"_Bummer. That means there isn't going to be food."_

"_Listen! This is serious. We need to help Scorpius. I know I'm not the only who has noticed his recent strange behaviour. I know you have too, you're his best friend!"_

"_Oh, so it's about that," Albus muttered._

"_Yeah. It is. I'm not sure if you know about it but Rose is acting all weird too and I think it has something to do with Scorpius," Sarah went on, missing the sullen tone he had used. _

"_I don't think you know about it since you are more preoccupied with stuffing yourself down with food but I for one feel that we need to do something. Talk to her, or get her to open up."_

"_I have already spoken to her." _

"_Ok- Wait. You have already spoken to her? What did she tell you?"_

_There was a pregnant pause as Albus just continued to stare into space, ignoring Sarah's concerned enquiries. Sarah twitched with annoyance and continued her train of questions._

"_Come on Albus, what did she tell you?"_

"_Nothing."_

"_Nothing? You have got to be kidding. She didn't tell you anything?"_

"_Yeah, she just remained mum about it. Kept changing the topic when I tried to probe further."_

"_That's worse than I thought it would be…" Sarah broke off into consideration with Albus hanging beside her moodily. He felt guilty from keeping Rose's real reason from Sarah, but he didn't think that Rose would appreciate it if he told Sarah what she had told him. Facts seem to play itself differently when spoken from his mouth and that would only lead to more problems. Besides, he wasn't exactly sure of what Rose had said before only it had something to do with Scorpius._

"_Ok, we need to do something," Sarah finally said._

"_Yeah, I know that. You have been telling me that since the start of this conversation. It's a marvel where we have gotten to after twenty minutes. Stuck with the first sentence," said Albus sardonically. _

"_That's because you were fooling around. And we aren't stuck at the first sentence, I thought of an idea."_

"_An idea? What is it?"_

"_Remember I told you that I think Rose weird behaviour has something to do with Scorpius? I'm thinking if we solve Scorpius's problem, we solve both problems. So all we got to do is let Scorpius be like how he was in the past before all this happened and everyone will be happier."_

"_Even an idiot without a brain knows that. Just how do you plan on solving his problem."_

"_You have to tell me what his problem is first. You speak to him on a daily basis, I only speak to him when necessary."_

"_Must I say?"_

"_Yes, for the sake of your cousin and Scorpius."_

"_He might not appreciate it."_

"_It can't be that bad."_

"_I think that Scorpius is still mopping over his break up with Allison."_

"_Her? Man, and I thought it was something more complicated."_

"_That isn't complicated enough?"_

"_No, that's simple. We just have to get everyone around us to introduce all the pretty girls in Hogwarts to him."_

"_And how do you think you are going to do that?"_

"_The person who gets together with Scorpius for more than two months gets like twenty galleons."_

"_You think that's going to work?"_

"_Of course, even if there isn't a girl who would remain with him for more two months, it will be just like old times when he changes girlfriend every once so often. Rose will think that everything's fine and everything will be fine."_

"_I'm not sure Sarah…" _

"_Don't worry too much, I'm sure it would turn out well. You should go for your Divination lesson already, I'll spread the message to the others. See you later," with that, Sarah went off along the corridors, not waiting for Albus's reply._

"_Divination lessons," Albus mumbled to himself and trudged with disgruntlement up the staircase leading to the North tower. Even with all that assurance from Sarah, he didn't like the sound of the plan. If Sarah was wrong, he prayed not, the result was not going to be good and his life could really do with less drama. Somehow, he didn't feel so enthusiastic about going for lessons anymore, but a prickling sensation was telling him to quicken his footsteps for something impending in the room. He ran._

_*****_

His instincts were right, he had managed to stop a war from brewing during divination class and save Scorpius from possibly being expelled but now his instincts were telling him that Sarah's plan was only going to make things worse and he was trying his best to neglect it.

"What on earth were you thinking? Attacking Craig like that," Albus chided his friend as soon as they pulled away from the classroom.

"What was _I_ thinking? What about you? If you hadn't stopped me, I would have taught that piece of filth a lesson," Scorpius bristled stopping in his tracks.

"And get expelled? You've got bees for your brains, that Slytherin Craig was just trying to spite you. He's not worth you getting kicked out of the school," Albus tried to reason.

"You don't understand."

"I don't? Let me see, he tried to spite you, called you a two timer or something and you went after him like a bull for a red cape."

"He called me an infinity timer."

"So what? It's true since you pretty much change girlfriend every week in the past, and then you broke up with Allison. Someone is bound to rake that up and use it against you. You can only blame yourself!"

Albus blanched at what he had just said, somehow, he did not mean for it to sound that way. Now it seemed as though even he was going against Scorpius.

"Oh so that is your opinion of me. Scorpius, world's biggest flirt. I wonder how many others feel the same way you do. Maybe Sarah, Lorcan, even Rose."

"I'm sorry Scorpius, I don't think you are a flirt. Ok, perhaps I do, but still, we all think you are a nice guy, we are just trying to find out what's bothering you."

_Oops, _he shouldn't have said that. Now Scorpius would know that they were trying to help and take all of their actions as sympathy towards him. And he above everyone else knew that Scorpius hated sympathy.

"You want to know what's bothering me? I don't even know myself! Your bloody cousin hates me, she thinks I'm a heartless proud jerk who happens to have this humongous ego and enjoys changing girlfriends every week!"

_Now that was unexpected_, Scorpius had actually opened up to him. Only what he said made no sense at all. Rose had said she thought Scorpius hated her and Scorpius thought that she hated him. All this information was way too much for Albus to process in his tiny brain.

"What made you think so?" Albus queried.

"She said so herself before the trip to Hogsmade," Scorpius huffed.

Rose would never say something like that, Albus wanted to point out but kept mum. He figured that his cousin had most probably said it in a fit of pique since she had one of the fieriest tempers he had seen. However it didn't really explain his weird behaviour before the incident, Albus wondered if it had something to do with Scorpius's break up.

"Before that, you were already bothered by something. And I'm talking about before your break up with Allison."

Scorpius refused to say anything and Albus attempted at another try.

"Rose thought you hated her, she said you ignored her and everything."

A red blush coloured Scorpius's cheeks when he heard that. He was tongue-tied and had run out of excuses to use that did not imply he liked Rose. _Wait, _he couldn't believe he had just admitted that to himself. Did he really like her? The pounding in his heart confirmed it all, he had fallen on his best friend's cousin. He couldn't believe it.

"I didn't ignore her, I don't recall doing so. I was worrying more about… about… my relationship… with Allison. I wanted to prove to everyone that I could remain faithful to one person during the course of the relationship."

"Every time Rose was around?"

Albus would have believed him if he had said that a few days ago, but now, he was starting to doubt it. Even while Scorpius was dating Allison, he had never stopped his eyes from checking girls out and flirting with them. It had become an acquired habit to him. Why should there be any difference in particular with Rose?

"Err… not every time."

Funny, when did Scorpius start to blush or stammer? Albus could not recall, he had always been so full and confident of himself. Scorpius was definitely hiding something from him, although Scorpius had somehow calmed down.

"Albus, I'm not sure why you keep asking this kind of questions, but just to clear things up, I don't hate Rose and I can handle my own problems. I'll see you later."

Scorpius turned and left in a hurry while Albus stood at the balcony and tried to made sense of everything. Scorpius had admitted to a certain extend that Rose had something to do with his problems just as he had something to do with Rose's problem. Albus could feel his brain swelling with each second. Every time Scorpius saw Rose, he would either blush, stammer, or give her the cold shoulder, something, Albus had thought was impossible for his friend. In fact, Scorpius had reasoned that he was thinking about his rocky relationship with Allison. Albus believed that there was a certain truth to it. And again it had something to do with Rose.

Then, the pieces started to fall into place like a nicely laid out jigsaw puzzle and it dawned on Albus like bullet shot. He knew what was bothering Scorpius, and in turn Rose. He had a strong hunch, but if that was so, his instincts were right, Sarah's plans were going to mess everything up.

And nobody would be happy, at all.

**Is this paragraphing better than the previous one? I need to know because I was going through the story and I realised that they needed to be a little more spaced out for easy reading. Thanks. Give it about two to three more chapters and the complications will start, I can't promise it's going to be very complex, just more rose and Scorpius scenes, jealousy and break ups. **


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter characters. **

**AN: *Takes a look at the calendar and squeals* I only took two days to update! Whoots:) Just to let you know, please try not to expect this too often from me in the future, after slogging a whole day in front of the dear computer, I finally managed to churn this out. And now the only thing I feel like doing is well... sleep. I know this chapter is a little long and draggy so please bear with it. It's quite crucial for the next few chapters to fall into place. I'm really grateful to know that there are people out there who actually follow my story and enjoy it and that serves as a great form of encouragement for me which results in this quick update. So thank you to those who favourited, alerted and reviewed. They really, really make my day. **

**(Warning: This chapter includes quite a bit of screaming, yelling, weeping and... ok, whatever it is, it just isn't very lovable. So please don't kill me*pleads*)**

**angharad xoxo: thanks for your review, glad to know that you think my story is cool:) I hope this update was soon enough for you, please enjoy this chapter. **

**101- silentwhispers: yep, it's going to hit the peak soon. Thats why the tension is starting to get bad, glad you liked it though. Man, hope my computer doesn't get an overload from all the heat. Hee hee, just joking. Finally, you are going to update your story. Can't wait to read it. Guess you reap what you sow, serves me right for my slow updates. Enjoy the chapter:)**

**Chocolatelover68: Yeah! Another person who thinks my story is good:) Thank you for your review. Hope this chapter is to your liking. **

Chapter 5: The start of wrong decisions

"Erm… Hi Scorpius."

Scorpius raised an eyebrow at the stammering Lorcan. For heaven's sake, that guy had been loitering outside his dormitory for the past five minutes and all he ever said was 'hi Scorpius'. It was starting to get on his nerves, couldn't the guy just spit out whatever he was going to say? He looked as though he was going to have a nervous breakdown.

"Hi Lorcan, what is it you want to tell me. You've been standing here for the past five minutes already and it's almost dinnertime."

Lorcan hesitated for a while longer before his eyes lit up and started gesturing at a petite brunette who had just passed.

"Look at her, she's called Trudy. I think she's really cool, she knows all about how the planet system affects your life and stuff like that. What do you think?"

"I think she is…" Scorpius gulped, "Quite ok."

He had no idea why Lorcan was asking him for his opinion for the mini Professor Trelawny but his guess was that Lorcan wanted to ask her out and Scorpius wasn't about to hurt his friend's feelings by pointing out that he found her acne covered nose disgusting.

"Really? You think so?"

Lorcan's eyes shone as he bounded up and down like a hyperactive bunny.

"Yeah… Why do you ask? Are you trying to ask her out or something?" Scorpius couldn't resist asking.

"No, I was wondering if you wanted to go out with her!"

Scorpius gagged upon hearing that. Him with mini Trelawny? The mere idea of it was preposterous. The last thing on his list of qualities for girlfriends was one who specialised in Divination, as in Professor Trelawny's kind of Divination. Well, actually the last thing on his list was actually those who were hideously ugly but well that Trudy girl wasn't exactly a swan either.

Anyway, when did Lorcan become so interested in his love life? Scorpius had expected it to come from somebody like Sarah or Albus, not Lorcan. The guy could practically mistake a girl for a guy! Scorpius recalled his conversation with Albus earlier in the day and narrowed his eyes. This must have been some kind of set up for them to 'help' him.

"Sorry, she's not exactly my type Lorcan."

Lorcan's face fell and Scorpius felt sorry for the blonde. After all, he had just been trying his best to help him by doing whatever the plan was.

"I kind of forgot you didn't like Divination."

"But I'm sure she would love to go out with you, I mean that's if you want to go out with her."

Scorpius said to Lorcan hoping to cheer him up and Lorcan just stared at him.

"You think so?" Lorcan's expression was hopeful and Scorpius smiled a little.

"Yeah, but perhaps we should go for dinner, before all the good food vanishes."

"Ok. I'll go find Lysander," Lorcan said before leaving for his room. Scorpius was about to head for the stairs when Sarah nearly bumped into him head on.

"Oh, there you are, I was wondering where to find you. I saw Albus just now and he told me he had no idea where to find you." Sarah was panting as she said that. It was obvious she had been running around the whole school trying to find him.

"Why is everyone trying to speak to me today?" Scorpius muttered under his breath.

"Speak to you? I have no idea? Must be coincidence."

"I'm not so sure about it. If you are thinking on introducing a girl to me, I think you can forget about it."

"Whatever made you think I was- Fine, how did you guess?" Sarah said giving in.

"Lorcan came just now trying to introduce a girl to me. And it's Lorcan, the guy who can practically mistake a guy for a girl."

"I knew Lorcan would have given out some details," Sarah scolded herself with Scorpius watching.

"He didn't say anything. I guessed. I know you guys are just trying to help me, I appreciate it but I can handle my own business on my own!"

This was one reason why Scorpius always kept his problems to himself. He resented it when his friends tried to make things better by interfering with his life and doing stupid things like introducing girls to him. If he was in the mood to date girls, he wouldn't have problem finding himself one. They should have known better than that.

"Stop being so stubborn. Everyone's concerned about you! And you need the help you can get!"

Scorpius was starting to lose his cool.

"You think making me go out with girls in going to make me feel like I'm on cloud nine? You're wrong! If that was the solution to my problems, don't you think I would have found myself a couple of girls to go out with already? You don't know anything about my problems so don't you go inferring what the solutions to them are!"

"Scorpius! Stop it!"

Scorpius wheeled around and found Albus standing right behind him.

"Oh goodie, another of my protective and helpful angels," he scorned.

"Sarah, maybe you should go for dinner first, I'll talk to Scorpius," Albus said to her and Sarah nodded, moving away quickly sensing the edginess in his voice.

Scorpius glared at his friend. "Great another talk." Sarcasm dripped from the statement.

"If you're thinking that we are helping you because we pity you or sympathise you, you are wrong. We are doing this because we care for you as a friend."

"There is no difference. You are my best friend and you should know that the best. Why did you still tell Sarah my problems?"

"I didn't. She noticed it from the strange way you were behaving. You can't blame me for that. She knew nothing about the conversation we had yesterday. The plan was made the moment we returned from Hogsmade."

"So you agreed to the plan, knowing me, knowing that it wouldn't help me at all?"

Scorpius couldn't help it. He was apoplectic, and the only thing he wanted to do was to scream out to the whole world at the top of his voice that he loved Rose. It had taken him so long to admit the simple fact to himself and now he felt like he was going burst keeping it locked up in his chest. How everyone was misunderstanding his actions as a depression from falling out of love was driving him ballistic, he was falling _in _love. Wouldn't anybody understand?

"I didn't. I wasn't convinced. I tried to talk Sarah out of it, she just would not listen. She's just as stubborn as you. I had to try to do something."

"This dating thing. It just isn't going to help! You don't even know my problem. You don't even know the tip of it."

"You think I don't know? I know every thing about your problem. I know you better than you think I do!"

"Really? Then tell me about it," Scorpius challenged.

"Alright. You're bloody hell in love with Rose. Ever since the start of the school term. Even while you were dating Allison, you secretly liked Rose. You were wary of her, so cautious that you refrained from speaking to her. You were afraid that you would really fall in love with Rose and betray Allison. But then Allison betrayed you, and now you don't know what to do because Rose already has a boyfriend. So you were trying to remain single, hoping that when Rose breaks up with Lysander, you can date her!" Albus was practically out of breath by the time he had finished from hollering. He paused to take a deep breath.

Scorpius stared at his friend with surprise engulfing him. Albus had managed to figure out everything, although Scorpius was unsure how. Not that he was really interested in finding out. Now that someone besides him knew about it, a tiny pinch of pleasure swam in his head. Just like freedom.

"So you do know," Scorpius said with sudden calmness.

"I'm not as stupid as you bunch of imbeciles think," Albus said with agreement. All forms of aggression had been resolved between them and a strange serenity covered the ambience.

"Ooh, the pot calling the kettle black, interesting," Scorpius joked.

"I'm glad that this entire angry thing is over because I don't like to scream but what do you plan on doing? Now that I know about your problem, it still doesn't solve anything."

Scorpius considered for a while. What Albus said was true, currently, Rose was still angry with him, she still had a boyfriend and he was still in love with Rose. He sighed.

"Actually Albus, I don't really know."

*****

Rose stood outside the room, wide-eyed with shock, unable to believe what she had just heard. It was impossible, unbelievable to think that Scorpius, the Casanova, actually loved her, or admitted to loving her. She could feel her pulse die the moment Scorpius admitted that what Albus said was true. She didn't know what to think or what to feel. Happiness? She could feel it searing in her chest, like when her first spell was successful. Or a grave burden. She didn't have that kind of interest in him, at least that was what she wanted to believe.

So why was the fact that Scorpius love her having such an impact on her?

She was starting to behave like one of his fan clubs who would faint if he agreed on taking them out on a date. Rose scolded herself mentally. Perhaps it was because Scorpius had never admitted to liking anyone besides Allison, needless to mention the word love. Then again, it could be partially due to the fact that he was drop dead gorgeous and she had teensy weensy little crush on him when she was in fourth grade.

Not that it really mattered now. She was with Lysander, even if she did like Scorpius, Rose shuddered at the thought, she couldn't go out with Scorpius. In fact, she felt guilty, guilty that she was the cause of all his problems, guilty of taking away all the chances the other girls had of going out with him, guilty she was the reason of everyone's worries and upset. Rose felt that she had to do something.

She had to make him understand that she was not the one for him.

Rose watched Albus and Scorpius leave the room and rushed towards them.

"Scorpius! Can I have a word with you?" she queried as both of them turned around at her voice.

"Rose?" Albus seemed a little horrified. Scorpius gulped.

"Erm… hi Albus, I'm sorry but I have to speak to Scorpius in private," she cast a pleading glance to her cousin. She didn't want her cousin to hear what she was going to say.

"Sure. Scorpius, I'll meet you later at dinner," Albus left the two to talk.

"So what was it you wanted to talk to me about? I hope it's not about asking me to go out with some girl."

There was a nervous ring to his voice and Rose felt her will and determination crumble to dust. _Stupid, stupid, just get on with it, for the sake of everyone! _She wanted to yell at herself.

"Actually it is, Scorpius."

Scorpius wrinkled his nose in slight irritation as in to say 'not again' however remained silent.

Rose stilled herself, she couldn't let Scorpius know that she had been listening in on his conversation so she was going to have to lie as though she thought he was still mopping over Allison.

"I know you don't like accepting people's help to solve your problem because you think that's pity so I'm not going to help you solve your problem by throwing a girl at you and ask you to date her. But I want to tell you maybe it's time you moved on."

"Move on?"

"Yes." Rose said firmly. "You've been single for a few days now, and that has never been the case before. It could be that you are enjoying bachelorhood but I don't think so. It's more like you were waiting for somebody. "

She could see Scorpius flinch like he always did when she went close to him, last time she had taken it to be hate but now, she knew the true reason. She felt ashamed. Taking a breath in, she continued.

"That person isn't going to come just like that. The way you are behaving, even the person you are waiting for might not want to go out with you thinking you are still mopping over Allison."

"So what do you suggest?"

She could see hurt in his face and it pained her. _This is for the best of everyone._

"You should go back to how you were last time, date a couple of girls until you find that girl you are waiting for or someone even better."

Rose knew that it would probably never happen, still, she had to convince him. And sometimes, lies were necessary.

"So, you are saying I should go back to being a flirt?"

"I guess." Rose forced a smile. "Only this time, I expect you to find a girlfriend which lasts. Even longer than Allison if possible."

Scorpius shot her a grim smile.

"Thanks Rose, I appreciate your concern."

"Just looking out for my cousin's best friend. It hurts me to see him worried."

Another lie, it hurt Rose to see Scorpius depressed even more. However Scorpius did not have to know that.

"You know Scorpius, lets go for dinner. Albus must be worried sick, you know how motherly he can be at times."

Scorpius laughed with a tinge of sadness as they headed towards The Great Hall for their dinner. Rose dipped her head, she prayed that she was doing the right thing and that Scorpius would finally find someone nice that he liked. He deserved it, the only thing he didn't deserve was loving her.

*****

Somehow, she had managed to convince Scorpius to move on, somehow, she had managed to convince herself that she saw Scorpius nothing more than a friend. Yet somehow the way Posse was clinging on to the sleeve of Scorpius's robe was getting under her skin and she felt the temptation to march up and wrench the Barbie girl off Scorpius.

"I know I've been causing everybody to worry a lot this few days, about me and Allison's break up and all and I assure you, everything's fine. I would like you to meet my new girlfriend, Posse," Scorpius announced the next morning in the Gryffindor common room.

There was a stunned silence that followed but to Rose, it felt like an explosion to her ears, the crash, the horning before the pain.

When Scorpius had admitted to loving her, Rose felt like her heart had died, now, when he had implemented the words to someone else, Rose felt like her heart had been burnt and tossed. She steadied herself against the back of the couch that was beside her.

"What on earth does he think he is doing? He doesn't like that girl."

Albus's voice travelled to her ears and Rose saw that his look was dubious and puzzled. After all, Scorpius had refused to go out with any girl for a couple of days, had confessed that he loved Rose and all of a sudden, the next day, he was announcing that he had found a girlfriend who wasn't Rose.

"He's just doing what I suggested," Rose said.

"You suggested that he went out with Posse?"

Disbelief etched in his tone.

"Not really. I just told him to move on, to get himself a lasting girlfriend."

A lump was starting to form in her throat and Rose found it harder and harder to talk. She could feel the tears welling up her eyes at that instant, ready to gush out any minute.

"Rose?"

"It's nothing. My eyelashes got stuck in my eyes," she explained to Albus, her voice was about to break as well.

_You fool, why are you crying in front of your cousin, right at the moment Scorpius says that he has a new girlfriend? Now he thinks you like him or something and that you're sad because he's taken. _Rose chided herself mentally. She wiped the trickling tears off her cheeks and sniffed. Why was she feeling so miserable? Over some guy who was neither her boyfriend nor her relative? A part of her screamed, _that's because you do like him. _

Could it be true? Did she really like him? Rose feared the answer, and quickly pushed it to the back of her head. He was nothing more than a friend, a close friend like her brother. She reasoned with her demanding heart.

"Why did you tell him to move on?"

Albus kept a firm gaze at her as she quivered slightly. She had no idea what to say, she had ran out of lies to weave and the truth sounded oddly insignificant now.

"Everyone's worried about him."

"Don't tell me about everyone, I want to hear about your reason Rose."

Rose could not bear to say it, she was so unsure of the truth, everything seemed like a bogus right then. Like a dream, only one that she couldn't wake up from.

"I know you know the truth Rose, the moment you wanted to speak to Scorpius alone, I knew you had overheard our conversation. You know that he loves you."

"I do."

"Then? You know how hurt he is and you told him to find some other girl."

"I knew he would listen. He's just wasting his time waiting for me. I don't love him."

"You're in denial Rose. What you are doing, it isn't helping anybody. I have had enough bad experiences. You aren't helping Scorpius and you aren't helping yourself. Scorpius would never be happy with Posse, she's not his type, she's not you."

"I know that I like him only as a close friend, like a brother, I have to give him a chance, to find somebody else. I have Lysander."

"Lysander's a jerk."

"It doesn't matter, Lysander's the one that I like."

"I don't believe a word you say. I've never seen you cry for Lysander or me."

"You don't give me a reason to cry."

"Rose…"

"It's for the best of everyone, and besides, it's already been done."

"Just tell him that you like him."

"I can't because I don't."

"You are a stubborn old fool."

Rose burst into sobs and buried her chest into Albus's arms. She did not know what to do about this whole ordeal. Right now, she was extremely confused and dazed till she couldn't even distinguish her mixed feelings from each other. She was a wrecked mess.

"Look Rose… Err sorry, about the other day… Rose? What happened? Are you crying?"

Rose looked blurry-eyed at the interrupter and found herself face to face with Lysander.

"Oh hi Lysander," she said weakly. "Everything's fine- sniff- I was just crying because I heard that my house cat, Gingershanks died."

"I hope you are feeling better now."

"Yeah, I am. Thanks. What was it that you were trying to tell me just now?" Rose brushed away another tear.

"I was hoping to… that we could… get together again. You know as a couple." Lysander fiddled with his fingers, biting his lip.

Albus shot her a frown but Rose ignored it. This was the chance she had been waiting for. She grabbed it Scorpius had moved on as she told him, it was time for her to move on as well.

"You know what? I think that would be nice."

**I'm not sure if you liked it or not but I personally felt that this chapter was a little idiotic and a tad bit darker than the rest. If you liked it, Yay! If you didn't, well... hope you enjoy the next chapter then, provided you still feel like reading the next chapter. Reviews are glad appreciated, if you are in the mood to review, then review. If you aren't, just hope that you would continue to show your support by following the story. Just one more chapter to go before the story gets more exciting. Yes:) Thanks! **


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter and never will**

**AN: I hope this chapter is ok. I wrote it until late last night so please pardon any grammar or spelling errors. I also realised that my chapters were getting longer and longer as of late. so for those who find long chapters an eyesore, I'm really sorry! The good thing is that I'm updating a bit faster than for the first few chapters and now I am trying to make a point to update twice a week. Which means I'm going to be very busy. Oh, and for all those who reviewed, favourited and alerted, thank you:) For all those reading the story, I hope you enjoy this chapter. **

**hpswst101: Thank you for reviewing:) And I have to admit, Posse is a weird name. Hope you like this chapter, and yes I agree with you, Lysander isn't exactly a good boyfriend.**

**101-silentwhispers: Lysander two-timing Rose huh, I can't really tell you, so you're going to have to read on to find out. And I hope Lorcan finds true love as well, I may add it in at the end of the story just for laughs:) Thanks for you review and I hope you like this chapter. Don't worry, I'm sure its not the fact that you have a twisted sense of humour, everyone find humour in different ways:) **

Chapter 6: A Valentines gone wrong

Scorpius had no idea what he was doing, except for the fact that his arm was around Posse, his girlfriend, and that he was staring at Lysander with a certain degree of envy in his eyes. That guy had gotten together with Rose and they were now exchanging short brief kisses on each other's cheeks. Seeing that wanted to make him sprint for the bathroom to barf, the scene was nauseating.

"Scorpy are you listening?"

Posse was asking him and he nodded blankly. She sighed.

"I was telling you that tomorrow is Valentines. It's only right that couples go out to celebrate this wonderful festivity."

Scorpius felt like pointing out that Valentines was not a festivity but decided against it. He was not in a mood to start a quarrel with anyone.

"Yah, I know that Posse. So what are you suggesting?"

He heard a soft pout from the side and felt like smacking himself, of course, she was hinting about going out on a date. Wasn't that what all girls wanted? Scorpius couldn't believe that he had overseen that, and he had one of the most number of girlfriends in the entire history of Hogwarts. How could he have forgotten about it?

"I was just kidding Posse. I have already planned something for tomorrow, you are going to love it. But it's a surprise and it wouldn't exactly be a surprise if I told you, would it?"

"I guess so…" Scorpius could see Posse debating on whether to pursue the matter but stopped at that. He heaved a sigh of relief, he had yet to make arrangements and he did not want Posse to find out. At least now, he would be too busy spending the whole day to plan a perfect date for Posse to think about Rose which was a relief.

Scorpius turned, unconsciously glancing at Rose and realised that she was looking at him as well and the two blushed crimson. Scorpius shot her a weak smile and looked down, he was going to have to stop doing that, and now, had suddenly seem like a good time to start his preparations.

*****

"Scorpius, you don't have to be with Posse, you know that."

"Albus, nobody forced me to be with Posse, it was my decision."

"Don't lie, this has something to do with what Rose told you the other day right? To find somebody for a girlfriend and move on."

Scorpius sighed and stopped writing for a moment.

"I have no idea how you managed to get all these information but Rose had nothing to do with this. I just felt like doing so. Posse seems nice and it's time I moved on as well. Hey, besides, I have a reputation to keep up. What would everyone think if I stopped dating people, those jealous peeps are going to start teasing me!"

"Like you would care about those jealous peeps. Who are you fooling? I am your best friend."

"Didn't I already mention that I wanted to move on?"

"Yeah, right after Rose suggested it," Albus rolled his eyes.

"Why do you keep insisting that Rose has something to do with my decision on hooking up with Posse? I mean from the moment I admitted that I liked her, I realised that perhaps she wasn't the one for me. Maybe all I saw her as was a good looking close friend. Like a sister. I just didn't bother to tell you that. I have completely wiped her out of my mind!" Scorpius denied the fact.

"You want to know my reasons? Ok, here goes. First, you still keep looking at Rose purposely and unconsciously, and it doesn't exactly imply that you treat her like a sister. Second, you completely forgot about arranging a date for Posse during Valentines which I am sure you would have done if you weren't thinking about Rose. And last," Albus trailed off and burst into a short laugh and Scorpius stared at him with a quizzing expression.

"You wrote Rose's name for the recipient to your Valentine's bouquet."

Scorpius stopped short and hastily turned to his slip of paper. Realising that he had indeed wrote Rose's name down, he cancelled it with his quill and wrote Posse's name above in an untidy squiggle. Scorpius could feel his face burn as Albus continued to smirk at his blunder.

"Just admit it, you still have Rose on your mind. And she was the one who got you to date Posse."

"Fine. All that's true but now that I am dating Posse, I'm trying hard to forget about Rose. And you seriously aren't making my resolution any easier."

"Look Scorpius, it's not going to be easy to forget about Rose, and I am not sure about you but I think that Rose didn't exactly mean that when she told you to date someone."

"Then what did she mean? I should date her instead while she is dating Lysander? I don't think Rose is a two-timer."

"Of course she isn't a two-timer! Anybody who dares to imply that is going to get it from me. I am just saying that she probably just…" Albus stopped and pondered how to make his point across to Scorpius that Rose didn't mean what she was saying and was only trying to make herself feel less guilty for taking up all of Scorpius's attention without letting him know that Rose overheard their conversation.

"See, even you can't think of what else she meant by telling me to move on and get a girlfriend."

"I do, I just don't know how to explain it to you. Nowadays, I wish we could go back to the days when our conversation involved less talking about girls and relationships. We aren't girls, and only girls talk about this romance kind of stuff. It's stupid!"

"I get your point Albus."

Scorpius agreed reminiscing the days where boring lessons and quidditch matches were the topic of their conversation.

"So, what were we talking about just now?"

"How I shouldn't be dating Posse."

"Oh yeah, man, we just can't seem to get out of the topic, can't we?"

"Well, you started it." Scorpius shrugged.

"I guess. So, it's Valentines Day, where are you going to bring her for your date?"

"Thinking Albus, I'm thinking. I want to get the simpler things done first like the bouquet."

"Erm… Scorpius, you are going to need to hurry, Valentine's tomorrow and it's already five in the afternoon."

"Then stop talking."

"Yeah, that's a good idea. You need help?"

"Help me place this order at the florist and grab the directory on your way out for me please. Thanks Albus."

"Err… sure."

Albus grabbed the slip of paper and rushed out of the room. Remembering to grab the heavy brown book on his way out least he forgot the directions.

*****

For the fifteenth time in the morning, Rose's hand flew to the lace handkerchief lying on her desk as her cold got the worst of her.

"You alright Rose?" Sarah asked concerned.

"Fine, just a… _Aah Chooo_!" Rose sniffed and held the handkerchief to her nose. Her voice was sore and hoarse as well and it just had to be on Valentines Day right after Lysander had made up to her.

"A cold, that's all."

"You aren't fine, you are down with a cold. Are you sure you want to go out?"

"It's Valentine's- sniff -Day!" she protested in a croak.

"I'm not sure Rose but you could go out if really want to." Sarah paused at Rose's eager expression and shook her head. "I'm guessing that you are going out regardless of your cold."

"Sarah, of course I'm going. What's the worse thing that could happen? Sneezing onto my food?" Rose joked.

"Haha, very funny. So… where is Lysander bringing you for your date?"

Rose thought for a moment before shrugging her shoulders. "Now that you ask me, he didn't- sniff -mention anything about the date except for the fact that perhaps we could go out together on Valentines Day."

A sad look crossed her face as she thought about it. "You don't suppose our date is going to be sauntering by the streets in the snow peering into window shops?"

"Rose, I'm sure Lysander planned out something. He is probably just trying to present it as a surprise to you later," Sarah swiftly said in hopes of cheering Rose up.

"Three broomsticks doesn't- sniff -seem like a surprise to me."

"Maybe he's going to bring you out for a picnic overseeing splendid view of a scenery."

"I hope so, I don't feel so well and I need something to cheer me up. A nice cosy date seems like something I need. So Sarah, where's Albus bringing you?"

"Nah, we're staying at Hogwarts. Albus figured that The Three Broomsticks would be way too packed with couples so we should remain here where it's nice warm and cosy. Not to mention quieter."

"I thought you always wanted your Valentine's Day to be special and unique."

"I do. And this Valentine's Day is going to be unique. Since the meal is going to be prepared by Albus."

"What? Albus cooks? I didn't know that."

"Yeah, he does, he told me once. I have never tried it before though, so I hope for his sake the food tastes good."

"Wow, that's seems so- sniff -romantic, I am so envious," Rose teased Sarah. "How's he going to cook though? As far as I am concerned, his room isn't a kitchen."

"He's going to use the Hogwarts kitchen. He told me that he found a secret entrance to the kitchen in our school. Apparently, it's the house-elves that do all our wonderful cooking! Albus is going to ask them if he could use it. I don't think they mind."

"That's cute." Rose nodded.

"Hey, it's half past nine, Lysander must be waiting for you. You should go. And Rose, you should wear more layers of clothing for that cold of yours."

After getting ready, Rose bustled out into the common room with her lavender coat and scarf. However, Lysander was not there yet, instead, she spotted Scorpius across the room giving Posse a bouquet of flowers. A pang of sadness hit her when she realised that Lysander had never given her a bouquet of flowers or any other thing for that matter.

Even after Scorpius and Posse had headed out of the Gryffindor common room, Lysander had yet to arrive. _Could he have forgotten about our date? _Rose thought glumly. _No, he probably just forgot to set his clock and he is probably still sleeping in bed. _She told herself, praying that it was the latter. She waited for around another fifteen minutes, and still no figure was in sight. The previously packed common room was now rather empty and Rose was thankful for the fact that she was no longer packed like a sardine in a can between the kissing couples. If only Lysander would hurry up.

Rose was about to give up when Lysander came bounding into the common room with a couple of his quidditch friends. She was so relieved that for a moment, she nearly missed the fact that he had entered using the front door and was dressed in his quidditch robe.

"Oh hi Rose, sorry to have kept you waiting."

Rose shook her head and smiled, pleased that he hadn't forgotten their date, "It's alright. At least you turned up. Why are you dressed in your quidditch robe?"

"Had quidditch practice just now. It was winter so we figured nobody would be competing with us for the field. You should have seen us just now, we were smashing, the other houses are going to have to look out once quidditch season starts because we are going to thrash them."

It was just like Lysander to get so worked up over quidditch, Rose just wished that sometimes, he would learn to be more like Scorpius and bring her out on a nice and quiet date without any interference from quidditch.

"Since you are here, maybe we could go out on our da- _Ah Chooo_!"

Rose brought her handkerchief to her nose and wiped it. Lysander shot her a querying look.

"Are you ok?"

"I have a cold, but don't mind about me, we can still go out on our date." Rose replied before sneezing again.

A flicker of doubt crossed Lysander's face for a while. "Look Rose, maybe we shouldn't go out on our date. I'm not sure how to put it bu-"

"Lysander! Why? It's Valentine's Day? I thought you wanted to go out."

"Rose, I know this means a lot to you but my pals here were thinking on having another round of quidditch practice. And you aren't really feeling well. So maybe we could hold it off to another day."

Rose was gobsmacked, what had started as a bad day wasn't turning any better. First, a cold, and now her boyfriend was suggesting that they postponed their date! In fact, he was using her cold as an excuse to attend a quidditch practice instead of a date. Now that Rose thought about it, Lysander probably never did plan for their date at all. Rose was crestfallen.

"Rose, I know you how badly you want to go out, even with your cold and everything. So if you really want to go, we will go, if not I will definitely make it up on our next date."

"Never mind Lysander, I'm ok with it. I just didn't want your efforts to bring me out go to waste, and we haven't had a date in a while. But since I'm not feeling well, you should go for your practice." Rose relented, there wasn't any point in going out on a date when her date was obviously thinking about something else.

"You're the best."

Rose gave a forced grin and her vision travelled to the bouquet of flowers left behind by Posse on the couch with desire.

"I'll be going out with my friends later to Hogsmade, I'll see if I can get you anything to make up for missing this date. Ok?"

"That'll be nice Lysander. You should rush for your practice." Rose told him, trying to hold back the sadness in her voice.

"Yeah, I'll see you later."

When Lysander was gone, Rose burst into tears, and her pearl sized tear drops rolled down her cheeks onto the carpeted floor.

*****

Sarah and Albus ambled into the room, laughing gaily until they spotted a familiar figure curled up in bed staring blankly at the ceiling, her eyes puffy and red.

"Rose! What are you doing here in bed?" Sarah beseeched and rushed forward with Albus following behind.

"I thought you were out on a date? Why are you back so soon? Did you guys get into a fight or something?" Sarah continued to ask as Rose just remained silent.

"Rose, tell me what happened, I'll go beat that guy up!" Albus urged.

"Don't do that Albus. I'll only get more upset," Rose muttered.

"What happened to your date then?" Sarah asked.

"We didn't go on a date."

"_What_?" Sarah and Albus practically yelled together.

"I wasn't feeling well and Lysander decided to postpone the date to another time when I was feeling better."

"I don't see him tending to you right now while you are lying in bed. Where the hell is that guy?" Albus, said with a mix of fury.

"He went for quidditch practice. He said that since I had a cold, perhaps we could postpone the date so he could go for quidditch practice."

"He left you here to weep all so he could attend quidditch practice? That is idiotic!" Albus scorned.

"Yeah, he shouldn't have done that. How long have you been lying here?" Sarah queried.

"Since half past ten."

"That's about four hours ago!"

There was disbelief etched in their tone and Rose just rubbed her sore nose.

"I'm going to find him and box him up!" Albus threatened.

"You wouldn't Albus. And look, speak of the devil, the devil is here," Sarah told Albus and pulled him out of the room.

Lysander raised an eyebrow as the two exited the room.

"Rose? You alright? I hope your cold hasn't been that bad."

Rose barely nodded and tried to sit up.

"I'm alright. It's just that my cold has been- sniff -quite bad."

"Good thing you stayed back at Hogwarts then," Lysander said, looking quite proud with his suggestion.

Rose didn't know what to say. Lysander couldn't see that she had been crying nor how upset she was not being able to go out on a date.

Without waiting for Rose to say something, Lysander pulled out a bottle filled with a pink substance. "I told you that I would get something from Hogsmade. Take a look at this."

Rose peered at it, "What is it?"

"It's a potion for straighter hair. I thought you might want to use it since you used to complain how curly your hair used to be. And I figured it would be too tiring for you to straighten your hair with that hair spell everyday so I bought this for you."

Rose sat up straight, Lysander thought she had been using a spell for her hair for it to be straight? She couldn't believe her ears.

"Lysander, do I look that vain to you? My hair grew like that naturally. I didn't do anything to it!" she huffed.

"Woah Rose, I didn't know that. Sorry, it's just that you used the spell for your hair last year and I thought it was the same for this year. Besides, you don't look like the type who loves flowers. That's a bit too girly, don't you think?"

Rose flared up. Lysander really didn't know her. Everyone who was close to her knew that she adored red roses as it reminded her of love and her name.

"You know what Lysander? You don't know me at all. If you knew me, you would realise that I don't really care about how I look except for special occasions like prom. And you would most certainly know that I like red roses and that I find it romantic for them to be given on Valentine's day!"

Lysander blanched. "You never told me what you liked."

"You should have found out yourself! I think I may be coming down with flu. You should just leave before you catch it. And the next time we talk to each other I hope it's not about quidditch."

Rose turned back to her bed and laid down, tossing the blanket over her body, shielding her from the rest of the room. After a few minutes of silence, foot steps could be heard leaving the room and another pair entering the room.

Rose felt a light tap at the part which covered her shoulder and responded irritably.

"What, can't you see that I'm not feeling good."

"Rose, I just wanted to give this to you. And then I'll leave."

Rose recognised the voice instantly. It was Scorpius. Remembering what she had said, she quickly pulled down her blanket and faced him.

"I didn't mean that, I thought you were Lysander."

"Yeah, I was hoping so, I saw him walking out with a sulk," Scorpius said.

"What was it that you wanted to give me?" Rose asked, curious. Her heart thumped at the idea that he might want to confess that he liked her.

Instead, he passed her a bouquet of different coloured roses, attached to it was a get well card. Rose was touched by his gesture, however, part of her was disappointed that there was nothing more to Scorpius's meeting, no confesses, no mention of the word 'like' or 'love', nothing.

"I knew you like roses and I heard that you were sick so there you go. I didn't give you red roses because… well you know…" Scorpius gestured with his hands, being stuck with his words. Rose let out a small laugh.

"Yeah, I know, I get your point." It had been wishful thinking on her part that Scorpius was going to say the 'L' word to her, since he had a girlfriend, but it proved her point that even Scorpius knew her better than Lysander.

"And well… also I wanted to thank you. For helping me to get over my problem."

Rose froze at that statement. What did Scorpius mean by that? Had Scorpius gotten over her as she had advised him to do so? The thought made Rose's heart clench. Seeing the smile on his face sealed it. He had gotten over her, she was no longer the one he loved. She wanted to break down as the fact dawned on her.

_Don't be so selfish, that was what you wanted for him right?_ Her voice of reason told her. _Besides, you don't like Scorpius that way, what does it matter to you, whether he likes you or not? _Rose lectured herself, how selfish could she be?

"Rose? Are you alright?"

Rose shook herself lightly.

"I'm alright. It's just that you shouldn't have done so much to thank me. I'm glad that you are happier now."

"Ok, if you say so. I got to go first, before Posse starts thinking I am secretly meeting another girl, which I am but not in the way she thinks."

"Yeah, sure. You should go. Bye," she said.

"Bye." Scorpius waved and went out.

He was serious about Posse and he was over her, just like what Rose wanted. But now that it had happened, Rose found herself torn. She was so confused. What did she want? And what was it that she felt for Scorpius? She wanted to think of it as friendship, but the pain was making it harder for her to believe.

Was friendship that painful?

She didn't know, and she was afraid of the answer. Taking another look at the bouquet of flowers, she knew. The answer was there, right in front of her. And now she didn't know what to do, except to start crying, letting the tears fall onto the petals of the only red rose in her bouquet.

**Just in case you are confused, the last part of the chapter was just Rose's interpretation of Scorpius's actions. Scorpius still likes her but she doesn't know that. I had to clear that up in case some of you get the idea that Scorpius really has gotten over Rose. Next chapter will should be up sometime this week. And to make up for the very minimal Rose and Scorpius scenes in the last few chapters, the next chapter will include a lot more of those scenes. Hope you enjoyed this chapter:)**


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, the characters, the school, etc... surely you get the point**

**AN: For those of you who are reading my story, thanks:-) I know I took a little longer to update than the last week but I was working on a new story entitled New season of Survivor: Hogwarts style, so for those who haven't read the story, perhaps you could go check it out. I am in a dilemma right now on whether to continue that story so some reviews may help. Yes, it's a Rose and Scorpius story. Thanks. **

**This is kind of hectic, lets see, one, many of you out there think that Lysander's a jerk, (well he is one in fact), two, many of you want Scorpius and Posse to break up asap (breaking them up would be easier to continue the story, well duh), three, there's the issue of dead teachers. I kind of revived Snape in the first chapter, yeah, that was a mistake, so for the next potions lesson, I would be using Professor Slughorn, (sad, he isn't as fun as Snape). And just to mention, due to the shortage of teachers in the story for the next genenration, I'll be coming up with some OC teachers (and they have really weird names). **

**Italics are for thoughts, spells and in this chapter, the part in italic is what Rose saw. Some of you might enjoy this chapter, some of you might bash me up for this. I'm not sure, so please enjoy.**

**101-silentwhispers: Yeah, you're not the only one who wants Posse and Scorpius to break up. It will be done of course, just not so soon. The weasely-potter clan bashing Lysander sounds fun, but perhaps for another story would be better. Hope you like this one, you might gasp.**

**hpswst101: I agree with you that Rose should indeed dump Lysander, sadly, I don't think everything's going to go smoothly even after that. And I hope you like this chapter too:)**

Chapter 7: Defence against dark hearts

"Hi Lysander," a girl with chestnut brown hair giggled and brushed past Rose, turning back after a few steps to give Lysander a wink. Rose cast a questioning glance at him.

"Isn't that girl from our D.A.D.A class? Why's she winking at you?"

"I'm not sure, maybe she thinks I'm cute," Lysander joked and Rose glared.

"What? Many girls think I'm cute! Is that wrong? I mean, you think I'm cute," he shot up his hands in his defence.

"Well, I'm your girlfriend and besides I just don't like that wink she gave you. It's like she's saying, 'heh, why don't we go to Hogsmade and chat over a cup of butterbeer'."

Lysander coloured a little and cleared his throat. "Don't you think you're being a little too paranoid about this Rose? I only have eyes for you. You and only you, and you know that. Ever since Valentine's Day, you've been in this whole dumpy and dubious kind of mood. Is it because we didn't get to go out on a date? If it's so, I gave you a choice on that day, you told me to go for my practice. And besides, we can have a date on another day."

Rose sighed, she knew Lysander loved her, just like she loved him. Only, sometimes, she wondered if Lysander truly cared about their relationship. True, he was the one who brought them back as a pair, but she was the one who did all the work, the organizing of dates, the more enthusiastic one. It was as though it was a one-sided relationship. All Lysander did was giving her an occasional hug or kiss when he was free before disappearing for some reason. Rose was tired of making sure everything between them worked out fine and with her latest confusion, she wished that Lysander would show her a little more care and concern so she could conclude that Lysander was the perfect one for her.

"It's not about the date. It's just, I wish you could show more love and concern for me."

"I do Rose, you weren't hearing a word I was saying, I told you that I love you. I always meet you during free time, we hug and kiss all the time. Isn't that proof of showing love and concern?"

"Yes, but how often do you get your free time? Once a day? And it's only half an hour, I barely get to speak to you. You never bother to make time for me in your hectic schedule and I take way more subjects than you do. I don't get why you are ever so busy. When I was down with a cold on Valentine's Day, you didn't bother to stay with me for half an hour to make sure I was fine. The moment I said you could go for your practice, you disappeared faster than a snitch!"

"I'm really sorry you feel that way Rose. But my life is really hectic right now, practicing for quidditch takes up most of my time. I want to prove that I am the best player suited for the match when the season starts. I hope you understand."

"Is quidditch that important? Even more important than spending time with me? And than there's that girl who winked at you. Are you sure you don't fancy her or anything, because she is quite cute."

"Rose, talking to you is starting to feel like talking to a brick wall. How many times must it take before you believe that I only have eyes for you? Arrghh… Let's just stop talking about this," Lysander grunted and entered the dungeon where Defence against Dark Arts took place.

"Yah, we should," Rose followed with a sniff. How could Lysander claim that talking to her was starting to feel like talking to a brick wall? It wasn't as though she was ignoring him. She just doubted what he said and was trying to assure herself that Lysander had been faithful.

After most of the students had entered the classroom, Professor Quileffa, the defence against dark Arts teacher, briefed them on what was going to happen during that lesson.

"This week I'm going to pair you guys up so that you guys can practice using the spells you have learnt. Both of you will take turns to attack and defend. This will serve as a revision for you before your exams arrive and hopefully, you guys may learn how to use certain spells effectively."

With that, Professor Quileffa started pairing the students up and Rose found herself being paired up with Scorpius, Lysander with the brunette that waved to him just now. She didn't like the arrangement one bit.

"Erm, Professor, could you pair me up with Lysander instead. Please Professor," Rose pleaded when no one was looking.

Professor Quileffa shot her a beseeching look, "I'm not sure what your young teenagers problems are nowadays but I said I would be pairing you guys up and that's that. If I'm going to allow you to choose your partner, then everybody would be begging to choose their own partners."

Rose nodded and turned away, she wasn't in the mood to raise a debate with the Professor right now. Casting a look at Lysander's direction, she realised that Lysander's face had turned from a scowl into a slight smile and the brunette seemed to be elated. _Yeah, he's probably happier to be away from me right now and with someone who has an interest in him, _Rose thought miserably and turned back to her partner.

"Is anything wrong?" Scorpius asked. Unlike a few days ago, there was no shuffling, no stammering as he spoke, he didn't seem to exude the fact that he was uncomfortable around her. She watched this with a resigned sigh, who was she kidding, Scorpius had gotten over her already, remember? The fact just refused to get nailed in her brain.

"No… nothing's wrong," she replied rather shaky, not knowing if it was because she was upset or because she was speaking to him in particular. And to think that a few days ago, it was the other way round. Scorpius glanced down, slightly disappointed when he heard her reply. He could tell that something was wrong with her and probably thought that it was due to him. _Perhaps it would be better if he thinks that way, _Rose reasoned.

"If nothing's wrong, I say we get started on the practice session before Quileffa starts nosing his way here," Scorpius offered and she agreed.

As the session went on, Scorpius slowly realised that Rose wasn't really focusing on the lesson. She kept gazing at Lysander in between spells, keeping tabs on him and the brunette. Another thing that gave, was the fact that Rose had failed in disarming him twice when it was her turn to attack and Scorpius didn't think that the reason was that she didn't want to hurt him.

'Something's bothering you, why don't you tell me?' Scorpius wanted to ask, but the words just wouldn't come out. He already had a vague idea anyway, and frankly, he felt like going over to comfort Rose, but he couldn't. A part of him would do something stupid, probably. So when it was his turn to cast the spells, instead of trying out the more complicated spells and hexes, he went for the basics that were easier to repel or negate. He didn't want to hurt a distracted Rose.

"_Protego,"_ she said, her mind was somewhere else. She didn't realise that it was in fact her turn to attack this time, not Scorpius's. All that she was interested in was the conversation her boyfriend was engaging in with his partner, or rather the other way around. She hadn't meant to keep tabs on him, it just happened when she accidentally overheard a comment being cast. And now she just couldn't concentrate.

"_Hey Lysander, why are you so quiet today?" his partner asked as he blocked the jelly-legs jinx. _

"_Look Linar, we shouldn't be talking, we should be practicing our spells." _

"_Come on, don't be such a goody-goody." _

_Lysander didn't reply and cast a disarming spell. Linar pouted at him. "You don't want to talk to me."_

"_Who said I don't? Just now isn't a good time, I don't want the Professor to catch us talking, we could be in hot soup."_

"_Pfft, I don't believe you. From what I have seen, I conclude that you are far from being a goody-goody." _

"_I'm not a goody-goody but that doesn't mean I can't be a good student," he defended, anxiety ringed in his voice like an alarm bell. _

"_Like real. During Transfiguration lessons, you were… no, we were talking the whole time, even while Professor McGonagall was giving us the demonstration on how to transform a magpie into a raven."_

"_They were both birds and they were both black, anyone could have mistaken them for each other, there was no need for that spell."_

"_That wasn't what you said last week. You said that talking to me was way more interesting than listening to any old lady go on and on about the differences between two winged creatures!" Linar argued on her point. _

"_It's th… the… the same," he stuttered, guilt was written all over his face._

"_No, it's not." Linar took a quick look at Rose. "It's because of your girlfriend isn't it? The miss smarty pants who knows the answer to every single question in class."_

_Lysander eyes widened in horror._

"_See, I can tell from your expression. Your girlfriend doesn't know a thing about me. The only reason why you aren't talking now is because she's right here in this tiny dungeon. You don't want her to know that we've been meeting after school. You don't want her to know anything, so you can be her so called 'perfect boyfriend'."_

"_Linar, she's my girlfriend. What are you talking about? People might get the wrong idea, __**she**__ might get the wrong idea."_

"_There's no wrong idea Lysander, we've been going out together for a week. And don't tell me we are good friends. Good friends don't share the food on each other's plate, and they don't hide them from their girlfriend's."_

"_Linar, that was a big plate of food! And, I didn't tell Rose about you because… because, you girls are all very sensitive. You always misunderstand everything."_

_Linar retort, "I don't buy what you say. Remember, you brought me out on Valentine's Day to Hogsmade?" _

_The moment he heard that, he instinctively cast a furtive glance at Rose only to meet her probing blue eyes. _

Lysander had lied to her, he had lied to her about everything. He had told her that he did not know Linar when she had winked at him and all along, they had known each other. In all of the classes that Rose and him had together, Lysander had never bothered to spend a minute to talk or joke with her, mostly 'because he had to copy notes'. Yet, for a girl who he supposedly didn't know, he spent a whole lesson chatting to her as lesson was boring. Yeah right, Transfiguration was oh so boring compared to listening to the History of Magic, and dates were so spellbinding.

Not only that, there was more to come. All this time, he had claimed that he was busy, with school, and with quidditch practices, but they were all excuses, so that he could go out with Linar without Rose finding out. After all, who would actually watch a quidditch practice session during winter? The last straw came when Rose found out that Lysander had actually brought that girl out on Valentine's Day and not her, his girlfriend. Rose could not tolerate it anymore, everything was clear now, Lysander had cheated on her and he couldn't deny it. The guilty expression on his face said everything. She couldn't believe things turned out that way, all those proclaims of his love were false. Tears stung her eyes.

"_Expelliarmus!" _

Rose heard the disarming spell and moved her wand to protect herself, in the haste, making the mistake of placing it in front of her chest. The red beam shot across the floor and onto her wand, deflecting it into her chest.

Rose crumpled and landed on the floor with a thud a few feet away from where she had been standing. Her ribcage doubled up in pain as she tried to move and then came a wave of darkness. She tried to press on, there was no way she was going to pass out during class because of a disarming spell she didn't expect. At least she didn't hit her head… and then a pair of strong hands gripped her arm.

Scorpius hadn't realised that Rose wasn't paying attention. She had been facing him and he didn't notice her glazed over expression until he had cast the spell and now, she was hurt. It was all his fault, he should have paid more attention. When the spell hit her, he had found his feet heading in her direction as swift as they could.

Her eyes were partially shut and he could see that she was about to let her head droop backwards. He quickly grabbed her arms and pulled her towards him so that her head could rest on his shoulder instead of the floor.

"Rose are you ok?" his face was paler than ever as sweat broke out on his forehead. He felt her stir slightly in his arms and he heaved a sigh of relief.

"Yea…h…" she replied weakly.

A crowd of inquisitive students had formed around them and had began murmuring. Professor Quileffa made his way through them.

"What happened here?"

"I hadn't been paying attention and cast a spell when Rose was adjusting her… erm… robe," Scorpius explained shifting the blame onto himself. Rose had gotten into a sitting position beside him and he quickly moved his arms away in extreme awkwardness.

"That was extremely careless of you Mr. Malfoy," Professor Quileffa lectured and Scorpius nodded.

"Do you need to go to see Madam Pomfrey?" he asked Rose.

She shook her head. "I think I can manage, just need some fresh air and I'll be fine."

Scorpius supported her while they exited the dungeon and found a private corner to rest.

"Are you sure you are fine? No concussions or anything?"

"I'm fine, just a little groggy."

"I'm so sorry Rose, I shouldn't have cast the spell when you weren't ready. I should have paid more attention."

"It wasn't your fault, you wouldn't have noticed," her voice was rather depressed and Scorpius guessed that it was about the same thing that had gotten her distracted.

"I'm sorry."

"You said that already."

"I still don't mind saying it a hundred times. It shows how sorry I am."

"You don't mind, I mind. I get how sorry you are, you don't have to prove it."

Scorpius let out a small laugh, but it was short-lived. Suddenly aware of the close proximity between the both of them, Scorpius felt his heart palpitating and the nervousness managed to worm itself into his heart again.

"Erm… is there… erm… anything you want to talk about?" Scorpius asked, feeling like an idiot instantly.

"Not… really."

"Oh. Because I thought it had something to do with Lysander," Scorpius muttered a guess, not able to bring up the word boyfriend.

There was silence at first and Scorpius was about to wonder if he had hit a sensitive spot when the sobbing started.

"I didn't mean to make you upset, I' really sorry, just forget I actually mentioned it."

Rose shook her head, "No. It's ok. Lysander was a cheat, he went out with another girl during Valentine's Day. He pretended he had… had quidditch practices with his group and went out with the girl…"

"I see," it was stupid, but that was all he could say. He didn't like it that the girl he was in love with was crying by his side over some other guy. It was painful to see that someone she cared so much for had hurt her so deeply and he wanted nothing more than to bash the person up and cradle Rose in his arms.

"If you need a shoulder to cry on, I'm always there," he offered.

"It's nice to know," she said. Then, she lifted her head and stared into his eyes with her blue ones.

"Scorpius, can you let me do something?" she queried with uncertainty.

"Yah… sure. Why not?"

Before Scorpius knew it, Rose pulled him forward and his lips crashed into hers. There was a gasp in the background, but Scorpius didn't care, because everything had melted into heaven.

**Lysander haters, here is the chapter... Rose hasn't broken up with him yet though, not that you have long to wait. Now guess who the gasp came from... I think it's pretty obvious isn't it? So how did you like the ending, I'm thinking not a lot, I mean the both of them aren't exactly single but I couldn't help it. It helps to continue the next chapter. And yes, this is the start of the complications. I know I promised more Rose and Scorpius time in this chapter, sadly it didn't really turn out that way. I hope next chapter will be better. Hope you enjoyed this chapter and I could do with some reviews, thanks:) I'll try my best to update next chapter by tomorrow, so see you soon!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, that's that. **

**AN: This is a short chapter, shorter than the others I feel. It is also a rather crucial chapter. And I think you understand why for those who read the last chapter. You know, I'm thinking that the idea for this chapter is rather cliched, but still, I'll just use it. Sadly, I can't say that this chapter was well written. I tried to rephrase and change it a little but it's still weird, including the ending. Well, I hope it doesn't stop you from enjoying the story though:) **

**101-silentwhispers: Yeah, I agree that the ending to the last chapter was random, but can you blame me? You will get it when you read this chapter. I hope, or maybe not. It was suppose to end with a hug but I thought a kiss would be more *cough* interesting:) Thanks for the review!**

**hpswst101: I have this weird feeling that you aren't really going to like the conclusion for this chapter. Oh no. But I can still be hopeful that there's a ten percent chance that you may enjoy it:) Thanks for your review! **

Chapter 8: Potential Break up

_What on Earth are you doing? _Rose's conscience shrieked. She didn't know, she couldn't really help it, he was only a few centimetres away from her and it was just so tempting. _He has a girlfriend! _The conscience continued but Rose could barely hear it squeak.

The moment their lips met, it seemed as though the whole world had vanished and they were the only two in the fantasy. She made the first move by kissing him, and he reacted by kissing back with equal passion. And suddenly, all her fears, sadness, uncertainty were gone. Replacing them was bliss, warmth, comfort, euphoria, what she had longed to have with Lysander which now she knew was never going to happen. Not that it mattered anymore.

He was history, but if so, who was the present and the future? She didn't want to think about it, not when everything was so perfect. If only time could stop right there, she didn't want to stop kissing.

Until a voice rattled her.

"Rose! What the hell are you doing?"

In a moment of shock, Rose jerked back, her reverie popped and she found herself back in a corner of the school with tear-stained cheeks. She turned around, even though she knew who the voice belonged to before she did so. It could only be one person.

_Lysander._

She swallowed, "You saw it for yourself. I'm sure it's not too hard for you to figure it out!"

Lysander's eyes flashed and his attention fell on Scorpius.

"What did you do to her?"

"Nothing. Why don't you ask yourself that question instead? I'm sure you have more to say," Scorpius replied coolly.

"What did you say?" Lysander threatened.

"I said, why don't you ask yourself that question instead. Because I'm not the cause of Rose's reaction, you were the one who made her cry."

Lysander flared up.

Reaching Scorpius, he lugged him up gripping his collar and slammed him into the wall. Scorpius winced.

"Not so tough, huh. Thought you would be stronger being Gryffindor's star seeker. Guess I was wrong."

"I thought that you would be more of a 'magic' guy, guess I underestimated you," Scorpius grinned.

"Guys, stop fighting please," Rose plead.

"Stay out of this," Lysander warned.

Rose stood by the side, clueless on what to do to stop the two guys. She swore that if either one landed a finger on the other, she was going to teach them a sore lesson.

"You should listen to her, I don't want to hurt you," Scorpius said.

"More like you are just a coward who's hiding behind Rose," Lysander scorned in return earning him a hard shove.

"I'm not a coward."

"Prove it! All you are good at is getting yourself a girlfriend and a couple of kisses."

"Oh, yeah, at least I don't go out with girls behind my girlfriend's back!"

"I think kissing Rose most certainly fits the bill of going out with girls behind your girlfriend's back. You aren't any better yourself!"

Scorpius scowled, that guy was right, he had a girlfriend, what the hell was he thinking when he kissed Rose. He felt like slamming himself against a wall. _Curse that attraction he held for Rose, _there was no way he would have been able to resist kissing Rose back if she initiated it.

"In fact, you're worst than me, at least I don't steal other people's girlfriends when they have a girlfriend!"

Scorpius was stung, he was not a girlfriend stealer. He couldn't deny that he had often thought of ways to make Rose his girlfriend but he had never carried them out. He wasn't even the one who kissed Rose.

"Cat caught your tongue? Or did I hit a nerve?" Lysander taunted, unaware of the fact that Scorpius's face was turning darker by the second.

"Lets clear things up, I am not a girlfriend stealer, contrary to what you think. And I am not worse than you, not in a millennium!"

Scorpius moved forward and was about to punch him squarely in the jaw when a hand shot out to restraint him.

"Scorpius stop it!" she cried out, Scorpius obeyed her instruction immediately to her relief, "Lysander isn't worth that punch. You should head back to class, Lysander and I need a little talk."

"Yeah, sure," his tone dropped to something calmer.

"Good," Rose said as she stationed herself between the two. She was going to have to settle everything with Lysander first, then she would think of an excuse for her behaviour.

Once Scorpius left, Lysander turned and kicked the wall.

"Just tell me, what did Scorpius do to you?"

"Nothing. Scorpius didn't do anything," she replied truthfully. She had been the one who kissed him. Scorpius knew that as well but he was too much of a gentleman to let her shoulder the blame.

"But… but… I saw you two… you guys were…" Lysander stumbled for the right words with a disgusted expression. "You can't deny that."

"I am not denying anything," she said. "I was the one who kissed him first. He couldn't do anything. It would have been rude if he hadn't returned it. He was just being polite."

Lysander stared at her, his eyes as wide as saucers, like he couldn't believe his obedient girlfriend would do something like that.

"And besides, you have no right to talk to me in that tone either. You lied to me, you told me you didn't know that girl. Yet, you spent the whole Transfiguration lesson talking to her and bringing her out on dates during your so called 'quidditch practices'," Rose was on the verge of tears.

"You said that you loved me but it wasn't true! Right? You always had another girl on your mind!"

"Rose, I do love you," Lysander started.

"I would really like to believe that Lysander, but I can't. I just wish that I had seen through that stupid schedule of yours."

"Ok, I made some stupid decisions, I admit it. But that girl was throwing herself at me…"

"And it was hard to resist? Don't give me that stupid pathetic excuse please. You went out with her on many dates…"

"They weren't dates, just chit-chatting," Lysander interrupted.

"If you insist, I don't really bother. You went out with her on Valentine's Day while I was sick. You left me at Hogwarts and ran off with some girl whom you call a good friend. Apparently she seems way more important than I am."

"I'm sorry Rose," he apologised.

"I don't think you love me Lysander. If you truly did, no matter how hard the girl threw herself at you, you wouldn't have gone out with her. You don't know how upset I was when I learnt that you were going out with that girl called Linar."

"So you wanted to give me a dose of my own medicine by kissing Scorpius?" Lysander voiced. Rose paused.

"Yes."

It was a lie, but no one had to know that. Rose hadn't known that Lysander would walk in on them, if she had known, the whole event would probably never happen. She would have just confronted Lysander and it would end there.

She wished it had just been a ploy to get back at him, but it wasn't. She had no idea what possessed her to do it, possibly the strong attraction and temptation she felt as she sat near him. She should have regretted her actions when she acted, however, she found herself actually enjoying it to her astonishment and horror. She was just as guilty as Lysander.

"Then I guess I really deserve it. The bashing and everything."

Rose didn't say anything. Lysander did deserve it, he cheated on her. But it also dawned on her that she had done the same thing to him only on a smaller scale, she finally knew. She liked Scorpius, really liked Scorpius. The feeling had been there all along, she just couldn't see it, even while she was dating Lysander before the whole hullabaloo. She was just reaping what she sowed.

"We both deserve it, we both weren't honest with each other," Rose sniffed.

"What?" Lysander asked.

"To say the truth, I don't really think that I'm in love with you. I think all I wanted was a 'taken' status and that must have been really selfish."

"Really? You feel that way?"

"Yeah. I think you feel that way too. So I want to ask you want question. Why did you ask me if we could be together again."

"I guess I didn't want to break off with you and seem like the jerk which I already was. I hope that I was really in love with you. But I guess we can see that it was all just a show."

"Yeah."

"So what do we do about it now that we know we don't really love each other. The relationship won't really work."

"I think we should break up. You can go out with any girl you want and I can get some time off boys, I need to do some soul-searching," tears rolled down her cheeks as she said that.

"I think that's a good idea."

"Ok," Rose nodded.

"But maybe we could still be friends. I know I cheated on you and everything, but you aren't exactly an angel either," Lysander suggested.

"Yeah, friends, not lovers, we should announce that tomorrow."

"Lets just hope Scorpius doesn't pound me and bash me up."

"He won't. I'll explain it to him, he won't do a thing. I hope the next girl you go out with is luckier than me. This isn't a very pleasant experience," Rose told him.

"I will bear that in mind. Hope you are luckier the next time too."

"Me too."

**I think you know now why I said that this chapter was random, hectic and I probably deserve a bashing right now. Yikes! But at least Rose has broken up with Lysander for good. Somehow I have a bad feeling that's only going to make things more chaotic. (slightly, but still, isn't it chaotic enough?) I hope you enjoyed the story so far. So review and thanks:)**


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters, the school, or anything else pertaining to Harry Potter. **

**AN: I think this apologising thing is starting to become a habit but still, sorry for those who were waiting for me to update for the past few days. I have no idea why but I had this humongous mental block and it wouldn't go away until yesterday. In addition, I had to rewrite it twice because the character's reactions plainly didn't make any sense. So well, here's the chapter, enjoy:) Really grateful to all those who reviewed, alerted or favourited the story, it really makes my day!**

**101-silentwhispers: Oh no. I never knew that reading my story could have made you more morbid. Hope that's really not the case though:) You get to see what happened to Rose and Scorpius in this chapter so hope you like what happened. My brain seems to be telling me that you may want to kick me for the explanation, but hey, I guarentee that you will enjoy one part of the story at least. Since you have been waiting for that for ages! Thanks for reviewing:)**

**hpswst101: I will try to work on the ending for the future chapters so that it would be less rushed. I hope this chapter's better. Sorry for the late update but the next few updates should be rather quick. Thanks for reviewing:)**

**Tishica: Yeah, poor Rose. I'm glad that you like my story:) I hope you like this chapter too, sorry if the update was a little slow, the next few updates should be quicker. Hopefully you will continue to enjoy the story and thanks for reviewing:)**

**Lily Orange: Thanks for all your reviews! I'm glad to hear that you are enjoying the story:) I really value your feedback. I hope you are still enjoying the story up till now:) Thanks:)**

Chapter 9: Life is meant to have Regrets

Rose felt like an idiot, standing in front of a red faced Scorpius, seeing that her face was probably the same shade of red. Now, why on earth did she even kiss him? As though things between them weren't awkward enough. Rose sighed. She may have thought it was a good idea before she kissed him, an even better idea when she kissed him, but as of now, staring at him in the face, the whole deal seemed simply stupid.

"Erm… hi Rose," Scorpius started. "If there's well nothing… I … Err… Albus … I need to go!"

Scorpius turned, and was about to leave when Rose stopped him.

"Err… Scorpius!"

_It was now or never._ She told herself.

"Actually, I do have something to err… tell you."

Scorpius looked at her. Rose took in two gulps of air. _Now, spit it out! _She mentally commanded.

"About just now."

"Oh, don't worry, I won't tell anybody about it if that's what you are about to say." Scorpius looked as though his foot was on fire and just couldn't wait to dash out of her sight.

"No. Well yes. Don't tell anybody about it. But, look, I know things are really awkward right now, so I have to clear things up," Rose said.

"Ok, err… yeah?"

"That… kiss…" she breathed. "I didn't mean to kiss you."

"Err… ok."

The tone seemed to suggest that he didn't believe her. Not that she blamed him. What kind of excuse was that?

"No really. I was really angry with Lysander, I mean he did cheat on me. I saw him coming and I wanted to make him envious," it was a blatant lie. She knew she had done it because she felt like it, but Lysander was a brilliant excuse.

"Oh."

Scorpius relaxed but no smile appeared as she had expected.

"I know I shouldn't have… kissed you, I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking straight. I didn't think about Posse," she apologised. "You can go rush off to wherever you wanted to go to just now. Just wanted to clear things up in case you got the wrong idea."

A frown flitted across his face but it was so fast, Rose couldn't be sure if she had seen it. She placed it as part of her imagination.

"Don't worry about it Rose. I understand. I would have done it too if I were you," Scorpius told her.

"Thanks Scorpius. See you later then. I broke up with Lysander but don't beat him up, I was in the wrong too."

She muttered an abrupt goodbye and scurried across the halls, not able to stand it any longer. She was afraid that if she continued to look at him, she would cry again. Tears were welling up her eyes and she didn't know why. Perhaps it was because she had told a white lie to cover herself, or maybe it was the truth behind that white lie.

***

"Alright Scorpius, what were you and Rose doing during Defence Against Dark Arts class?"

Albus stared at him with a stern quizzing look, his eyes seemed to be searching his face for an answer.

"What on Earth are you talking about?"Scorpius asked back feigning innocence.

"Don't ask me what I'm talking about. You know it!"

"Nothing happened," Scorpius said.

"Really?" Albus's eyes narrowed, "First, I heard a whole group of students talking about some mishap during D.A.D.A and that Rose was hit and you left the classroom with her. Next minute, I saw you with a red face and a while later, Rose and Lysander comes out with equally red faces. Tell me what the hell went on."

"You aren't going to settle for a simple nothing I guess."

Scorpius resigned with a sigh. He didn't want to tell Albus what went on between him and Rose, it seemed rather private to him. He had no idea what to make of it either and if Albus knew what they had did, there was no guarantee that he would be leaving his dormitory in one piece. But then again, there was no guarantee that he would be leaving his dormitory at all if he continued to shun the question.

"I accidentally hit Rose with a spell. So I brought her outside to get some fresh air."

"I think I figured out that much from those gossip," Albus huffed. "You aren't really replying the question you know."

"Fine. I was asking Rose how she was doing and suddenly…"Scorpius bit his lip, not wanting to continue.

"And suddenly?" Albus was probing like an anxious child wanting to hear the rest of a thrilling story.

"She kissed me," he said preparing for an outburst. None came.

"You aren't coming after me with a broom?"

"I will, if you don't tell me what happened," Albus told him. "Rose is rarely distracted in class, even if you sneaked up at her with a spell, she will still be able to detect and counter you in the last minute."

"I think she found out that Lysander had been two timing her," Scorpius said after much consideration.

Albus's face turned purple.

"Alright, now I really want to bash him up. Anyone has a bludger nearby?" he fumed, pacing around the room, fumbling for the huge brown mass.

"Rose told me not to bash him up. I don't think she'll be happy if you did so," Scorpius told him.

"She doesn't know what's good for her. Seriously, I think I should call all my cousins to gather up and give Lysander the blanket party of his life! He wouldn't know what hit him, and Rose wouldn't even know about it!"

"She said that she was in the wrong too, so it shouldn't be just Lysander's fault. Even though he's no longer her boyfriend."

"Really, she said that. You know what then? I think you should go after Rose since she is single," Albus offered.

"Albus, you know that I want to, but you forget a major fact, she's single, but I am not," Scorpius told him.

"Look, you don't love Posse, right? You can deny all you want, but I know you don't. Just dump her, it won't be like she's the first. Once you are single, you guys can hook up!"

"Right now Albus, you seem like a salesman trying to sell your cousin off," said Scorpius as he laid on the bed.

"I'm not trying to sell my cousin off, Scorpius, but I'm convinced that she likes you, since she kissed you and I rather you were her boyfriend than some other guy," Albus laughed, not bothering to find the bludger anymore.

"She didn't kiss me because she liked me Albus. She was just trying to make Lysander jealous."

"Excuses, that's what it is. Trust me Scorp, she likes you, if not she wouldn't have kissed you, she's not the type who kisses random guys."

"Neither is she the type who kisses any guy she likes. Anyway, I don't think she likes me in the way you think she 'likes' me."

"You're living in denial Scorp. You aren't seeing anything!" Albus exclaimed and sat right beside Scorpius's bed. Sometimes, he was just so frustrated with the fact that his cousin and his best friend just could not see how much the other party liked each other that he wanted to drip a drop of Veritaserum in their drink.

"The only thing I see is that this is a one way relationship, with me liking her as a lover, and she liking me as a friend." Scorpius just couldn't understand why Albus was trying so hard to get them together. It wasn't as though he had gotten a confession from Rose telling him that she loved him, what made Albus think that Rose would feel that way about him.

"And after so many times, I wonder why I am still talking to you about Rose when obviously you don't take in a word I say," Albus sighed, shaking his head.

"I'm going to find Sarah, I hope you do realise the truth sooner before it's too late."

Scorpius watched as Albus got out of the door before he turned. He was so confused he wanted to scream. He wanted to believe what Albus said, if only he could, but what if it was wrong? His pride would be hurt. What if it was right? They would be able to get together but not for long. He was rather sure that Rose's dad would probably fling him out of the door the moment he entered her house. And he didn't think his father would give him his consent for going out with a girl who wasn't a pure blood. They could never be together.

He tossed, there were so many obstacles if he chose the path of going after Rose, whereas if he stuck with Posse, everything would be so easy, he could just go out happily with her without a care in the world. No objections, everyone would welcome him with open arms, and his parents would happily agree. Life would be so much easier if he sacrificed that bit of happiness. If only that was the case.

He flipped one more time, pushing his fringe away from his forehead and bit his lip. He knew what he had to do, at least a vague idea, and he was going to do it. He was going to have a date with Posse.

***

Scorpius couldn't help but get frustrated with himself.

He had been waiting for Posse for the past ten minutes, and the only thing his mind seemed to process was Rose, Rose and Rose. It didn't strike him that something could have happened to Posse, which causing her to be late, nor that he should go check up on what was taking her so long to arrive. The whole time he rested on the couch, his mind had been on Rose. And possibly the fact that she was currently single and he oh so badly wanted to court her as a girlfriend.

If only his mind could focus on the more important things like what he was going to do when his girlfriend arrived. Because the only plan he had made so far was meeting her at six o'clock in the Gryffindor common room and nothing else. He had planned on making up the other plans on the spot, seeing that it had always worked. However this time, he wasn't so sure about it.

He took a breath in, hoping to clear his mind from Rose, instead, a picture of him enjoying a candlelight dinner with Rose formed in his head.

_Stop it! _He willed himself, his fingers tugging at tufts of his blonde hair. But the image wouldn't leave. And he knew he was fighting a losing battle, trying to stick with Posse. His resolution was faltering and he wasn't sure he could keep it the battle with his heart up any longer. He sighed, he had no idea what was the next step he had to take.

Footsteps drew nearer and a familiar floral scent wafted up his nostrils.

Posse was here. There was no more time for him to figure things out, he was going to have to make his decision right then. He got up and sauntered towards Posse.

"Posse, I think I have something I need to say to you."

***

Posse couldn't believe what had just happened to her a few minutes ago and now, she was trying to take in everything. What she had just heard, what she had just experienced and the pain that rise and fell with the motion of her chest.

She stared at the flowers in front of her, the bouquet of red roses seemed to mock her. She lunged at them, ripping them off their stalk one by one, hissing and screeching as her room mate flashed her a scowl.

"Posse, if you don't shut up by the next minute, I'm going to throw you out of the room and lock the door," she muttered coldly.

Posse burst into tears and buried her face in her fluffy pillow. She was livid and depressed from what had just happened, why couldn't her room mate understand? She didn't want to remain calm, she wanted to hiss and pounce and she had no intention to stop just because her room mate had told her to. She continued to bawl as the incident popped into her mind once more…

***

"_Posse, I think I have something I need to say to you." _

"_Ok, shoot then Scorpy."_

_Scorpius hesitated, Posse had no idea how serious the matter was, and she probably wasn't prepared for the bombshell he was about to drop. For a moment, he felt like ending all of it with a joke and lug Posse out for a nice cosy dinner at a posh restaurant his father had once brought him to. But no, he had made his decision. There was no backing down._

"_Well, you see Posse, you aren't going to like what you are about to hear, I'm warning you first."_

"_You are so adorable at times, you know that? Whatever, Scorpy, just shoot," she chirped. _

"_Posse, serious."_

"_I'm perfectly serious!" she tried to pull a straight face, but it failed and she broke into fits of laugh. _

_Scorpius sighed._

"_When I said that you aren't going to like what I'm about to say, I really mean it. There's no time to joke around laughing like a maniac dressed in pink robes!" he chided. _

"_Fine," she huffed. _

"_What's it with you, it's like you are a different person or something. You aren't smiling or anything., Should I check if someone has replaced you with a droid?"_

_He glared at her._

"_Posse, I'm…"_

"_I'm serious? You said that many times already," she scoffed._

"_No. I think that…" he gritted his teeth _

"_We should break up."_

_Posse stared at him with a look of befuddlement before a grin coursed her face and broke into a laugh. _

"_Ha ha… you totally… got me there…. Scorpy. Break up. You shouldn't be joking about this kind of things you know. You're lucky I got that you were joking."_

_Scorpius growled, couldn't Posse tell when he was being serious? The way she was taking all of it was not making things any easier for him. _

"_I'm not joking Posse, do I look like I'm joking?" _

_Posse's laugh turned into a nervous giggle as she levelled her gaze to meet Scorpius's. __His face was expressionless, his eyes betrayed no laughter and his mouth was almost arched into a frown.__ The truth struck her like a bolt of lightning. He was perfectly serious about it. He was breaking up with her and she had no say in it. _

"_You're serious about this? You're really breaking up with me?"_

_Scorpius didn't know what to say but the truth. He nodded._

"_Why?"_

_Posse wanted to know. Was it because she was dumb? Was it because she wasn't as pretty as he would have liked? She didn't believe that Scorpius would just dump her for no reason at all._

"_It's not you. It's me. I like someone else."_

_He turned his head so that his eyes faced the floor and not into the despondent expression that hung on the girl's face in front of him. He could imagine that welling up with tears at that instant, and even though Posse was not the girl that he loved, it pained him to see any female cry, especially when he was the cause of it._

"_Who is it? Is it Allison? But she's over you! She doesn't like you anymore!" she whined. Seeing that Allison had been his girlfriend for the longest period of time, she couldn't help but immediately rush to the conclusion that he still fancied Allison and wanted to get back with her._

_However, he shook his head._

"_I got over her already, it's somebody else."_

_Posse was astounded, she had never expected there to be someone else besides Allison that could possibly get between her relationship with Scorpius. She couldn't believe it, and the fact that there had been a third party angered her to no bounds. _

_She shrieked, allowing the tears to stream down her face as she pounded her fists against Scorpius's chest. _

_He stood there, unmoving before he opened his mouth._

"_I'm sorry."_

_But that wasn't what she wanted to hear. She didn't want an apology. She wanted to hear that he actually liked her, and that she wasn't just some replacement for the girl. However, the words never came. He pushed her away and slowly walked back to his dormitory. _

_Posse cried._

***

"Shut up Posse! I'm serious about throwing you out!"

Posse stopped bawling, rage surged through her as the word 'serious' rang in her ears once more. She pulled herself up from her pillow.

"Don't you even think of throwing me out!"

"Pffft. Posse, what can you do about it if I did throw you out. Besides, get over it. It's just a tiny miserable break up. It's not like it's your first. And besides, you should have known that Scorpius was the playboy type of guy when you dated him. You should have expected that to come."

Posse didn't know what it was, perhaps the irritable smirk on her friend's face or what she had said, it made her go ballistic. She hollered.

"It wasn't just some stupid break up. He never did like me! I was just some stupid replacement for someone he liked!"

Her friend's smirk grew even wider.

Posse saw the smirk and smiled, this would be a nice time to get back on her good friend with what she had learnt.

"But that person wasn't you Allison. I confronted him. He has gotten over you too!"

"What?" there was disbelief in her tone.

Posse laughed.

"He got over you! And I know it's not a lie, because I can tell if it was."

"That guy! How could he have gotten over me? It's not possible!"

Watching Allison's face turn murderous, lifted her spirits a little. Allison rarely got into tempers, and the way she was behaving, Posse could tell that Allison hadn't moved on from Scorpius. If Scorpius didn't like her, Allison definitely did not deserve it, since she was the one who had betrayed him. This served as a comfort to Posse.

"It's possible! Guess you don't hold that much place in his heart as you originally thought! There's actually somebody else who is better than you!"

Allison couldn't believe what she was hearing. Scorpius had actually found someone whom he liked even more than her. She saw green.

"You know what Posse, I don't really care who's actually better than me. But whoever that person is, let me just warn her first. She's going to get it… real bad. I swear."

**For all those who have been waiting for Scorpius to break up with Posse, the chapter has finally arrived:) I hope you enjoyed this chapter, although it may be kind of confusing with all the asterixes and italics. The italics are for flashbacks and thoughts in case you didn't know. The next update should be up by the end of this week and I hope to finish the story by the end of next week since school is starting soon and I would not be able to use the computer as frequently as I would like. For all those who like the story so far and were hoping for a long continuation, I'm sad to say that this story is coming to an end soon, in just a few more chapters. Reviews, alerts and favourites are gladly appreciated as usual, so I would like to thank you beforehand if you did. Thanks for reading this chapter:)**


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter and probably never will.**

**AN: Ok, I said I would update soon. Is this soon enough? I hope so. I originally had the whole plot for the next few chapters planned from the beginning, so I thought that typing this out would have been a breeze, but after I went through the points again, realised that it actually wouldn't work, so I had to come up with another plot which is why this post is coming at a later timing. Alright, hope you enjoy the story then:)**

**Huge paragraph of italics is for what Allison saw. The other bits of italics are for thoughts, or sounds.**

**hpswst101: To reply the question in your review, I think it should be the end of the beginning, since Scorpius hasn't actually gotten together with Rose and probably won't until the end. Thanks for reviewing:) Hope you enjoy the story:)**

**101-silentwhispers: Wow, you actually liked the fact that Allison was evil. You are morbid. I'm sad to say that there won't be any Lysander bashing in this story as much as I will like to and I don't plan on including any bashing for him (except if you do feel strongly for it, I can give him a tiny humiliating scene at the epilogue. Hee hee) He's really not that bad. Allison's worse. And yeah, the antagonist of the story has been transfered to Allison. So please direct your curses towards her. Got a feeling your morbidness is going to go crazy with this chapter. Though you may find the revenge plot rather weird. Anyway, thanks for the review and hope you enjoy the story!:) **

**blarbraXD: Have to say, I agree with you. Allison. Is. Evil. And I think everyone agrees on that. Thanks for the review. I hope you enjoy this chapter, because you are going to be seeing more of Allison's evil and I'm frankly not sure if you would like it. Still, thanks:)**

**Cookie-Dough-Always: Oh no. I'm not sure if you are going to like this chapter, but I seriously hope so because Allison does find out Scorpius like Rose. And thanks for the review, I really appreaciate it. Hope you enjoyed the story and will continue to enjoy it. I promise, scorpius and Rose will definitely have a happy ending.**

Chapter 10: Troubles of Polyjuice and truth

Scorpius looked up from his pillow for a few moments before burying his face with a sigh. Albus watched him, disgruntled.

"Scorpius, I'm really tempted to throw my quill at you. Will you stop sighing for heaven's sake! You're making me real irritated here, and the only thing I'm doing is dreaming of what we're going to have for breakfast tomorrow!"

"Then stop listening to me sigh," he replied, his face still facing the pillow.

"What's the problem this time?"

Albus was fed up with playing the match maker. For heaven's sake, he was a guy, what did he know about relationships? So why on earth was he the one stuck with the chore of giving advice? He didn't see Sarah telling Rose to do anything, and she was a girl!

Albus reminded himself, the only reason why he had to be the cupid was because the two people who happened to be involved, happened to be his best friend and his cousin. He shook his head, sometimes, he just hated his life.

"I just broke up with Posse."

Scorpius said and Albus felt a huge question mark hovering above his head. Wasn't it a good thing that Scorpius had broken up with Posse? Now he was free to date whoever he wanted, which in this case was Rose, seeing that she was single as well.

"Isn't that a good thing?"

Scorpius flashed him a murderous glare.

"How can you call that a good thing? Now I'm not sure if I should go after Rose or if I should just sit down and do nothing and wait for the ladies to pounce on me!"

"Oh, so that is the problem," Albus said. "Isn't the solution simple? Go after Rose and tell her that you love her!"

Albus couldn't believe that Scorpius could be such an idiot seeing how much experience he had with getting girlfriends.

"Yeah, right. So I'm supposed to march up to her dormitory and say those three words and expect her to say something like 'I love you too'," Scorpius rolled his eyes.

"Well, yah, what's the problem with that?" Albus shrugged. He couldn't see why Scorpius was so reluctant to do it.

"What if she doesn't like me, most of the girls would swoon or stuff like that. She doesn't act like that and I don't know if she likes me that way," Scorpius grumbled.

"You won't know if you don't try."

"And if she doesn't, then? Try again? I think there's a higher chance that Rose would personally hex me out of her sight."

"I'm sure she likes you. I say you should just go ahead and confess to her."

"And if she does say that she likes me? What next? You expect us to kiss or walk to the classes hand in hand or something?" Scorpius exclaimed.

"Just do what you normally do with your girlfriends. You have more experience than me you know. I only have Sarah, you have countless," Albus pointed out with a shrug of his shoulder.

"Yah, countless. But those are different. I don't know what to do when it comes to a real relationship."

"Maybe you can ask her out for dinner or something like that. I mean that's like the Primary step to dating, isn't that what you said when I first asked you for tips to going out with Sarah?"

"Who knew I would actually need you to give me that same piece of advice in the future?"Scorpius said in a somewhat lighter tone.

"Thing is, Sarah and I, we got together in the end, didn't we? I'm pretty sure yours will go well. But nothing can happen if you don't bother to do a single thing!"

Albus got up to Scorpius's bedside and pulled his friend up by the sleeve of his robe.

"I know I ain't the best adviser for this kind of thing, but I know that lazing in bed is definitely not going to help you anyway."

Scorpius rose from the bed slightly, pausing momentarily to reconsider his options.

"You know what Albus, I think you're right. I'm going to find Rose right now," he stated confidently before shifting his attention to his wrist. "Just one more thing."

"Yeah?" asked Albus, his face was glowing knowing that Scorpius was finally going to have a heart to heart talk with Rose and alas, he could get back to his reveries of food and quidditch with no more worries about the duo.

"Could you like please let go of my wrist?"

***

Ten minutes had passed and Rose hadn't stepped out of the girl's dormitory. Scorpius looked around, his heart racing anxiously as he pressed his back against the wall. If she wasn't out in two minutes, he was going to bolt, his wary posture and fidgeting had caught the attention of several girls and he wanted his confession to be a private one, not one which was well broadcasted. In addition, he had Transfiguration lessons in the next ten minutes, and he wasn't about to risk being late.

He briefly debated on whether he should step in and ask if Rose was still in her room but he finally decided that it would only drag more attention to his actions and he wanted to avoid that.

He started pacing outside the dormitory again.

"Hey, you need any help, Scorpius?" a girl named Aurelia asked him.

"Looking for Posse," he lied quickly.

"Oh, you missed her, she left ages ago."

"Oh thanks."

Scorpius thanked Aurelia and pretended to head down the stairs. Once he was sure Aurelia was gone, he went back up and resumed his post beside the pillar. If only Rose could hurry up. The waiting was getting agonising for him. Not to mention that there was a familiar nagging in his mind that was telling him to scoot and vanish and Scorpius certainly wouldn't mind doing so.

After what seemed like eternity, a slim familiar figure stepped out of the doorway hastily and turned towards the stairs.

"Rose!" he called.

She whipped her head around and shot him a sheepish grin.

"Oh hi. I've got Charms lesson in like five minutes. Talk to you later. Is that fine?"

Scorpius bit his lip, he didn't want Rose to be late for her class and neither did he want to be late for his, but he was afraid that if he postponed the conversation till later, he wouldn't have the guts to say it.

"I have Transfiguration too in five minutes as well but this is really important and I promise I'll be really quick."

Rose shrugged shooting Scorpius a baffled look.

"What's all this about?"

Scorpius opened his mouth and was about to speak when he realised that he was clueless on how to drop the bombshell.

"Err… I don't know how to say it."

_How smooth, _he thought darkly and cleared his throat once more.

"It's going to be a little awkward," he grimaced.

"Stop beating around the bush, Scorpius." There was a small laugh playing at the tip of Rose's mouth, but Scorpius wasn't sure it would still be lingering after she heard what he said.

"Rose, I… think I like you."

***

Had Allison just conveniently forget about getting her textbook for Transfiguration class, she would have missed the whole confession. But no, her conscience had been bugging her the whole day and she had finally relented, with much reluctance. She had slipped into the girl's dormitory, and was about to get out when she spotted Scorpius lingering outside the room calling out to stop Rose. And then, she heard Scorpius confess that he liked her a few moments later.

Now, she wasn't sure she was pleased or not.

Sure, she now knew who was the girl who had stolen Scorpius's heart and could happily start plotting her revenge. But it saddened her to realise that all this time, Scorpius probably never liked her. She could tell from the anxiety Scorpius was portraying as he waited for Rose's response. Allison was sure Scorpius had never acted that way around her before.

She continued to watch them.

"_What did you just say?" there was disbelief in Rose's voice._

"_I don't know Rose. I think I like you."_

_Scorpius planted his gaze on his floor, refusing to look up and his face was the colour of ripe tomatoes. He was clearly embarrassed about what he had just said and Rose looked like she felt the same way as well. _

"_Scorpius…" Rose said after a while before breaking off._

"_I was wondering if you would go out with me for lunch tomorrow," Scorpius blurted. _

_There was another awkward pause as Scorpius shut his eyes and clenched his fists while Rose remained staring at him. _

"_I don't know Scorpius. This is kind of sudden for me. I just broke up with Lysander, I'm not sure about this." _

"_Oh, ok. I get it." Disappointment was visibly written all over Scorpius's face as he nodded._

"_I need time to think about it. And now isn't really the best time. We're late for our classes and we should be going right now."_

"_Yah, I understand. I'll give you some time to think about it. But it'll be nice if you let me know your response before ten at night."_

"_Yeah, sure. Erm… see you later," Rose hurried down the stairs and Scorpius's gaze trailed her for a while, then he decided to follow suit, disappearing from the corridors._

Allison swallowed the whole scene in. It took quite a bit of will for her to not burst out from behind the doors, hexing the both of them. It was tempting, but she held back. She didn't want them to know she had overheard. That would have ruined the whole point of her revenge. She was going to make sure that Rose paid for everything and Scorpius came crawling back to her.

She had a plan.

***

One hour. That was all she had. And frankly, it was all she needed.

Her revenge would be short and sweet, for her that was, unfortunately, not so for the victims. Allison couldn't resist a cackle as she imagined the amount of hurt she would have brought to the two.

They deserved it. For everything they did. Allison rubbed her hands in glee and picked up the golden goblet that sat in front of her desk.

It had been a birthday present from Scorpius to her during sixth grade and she would drink from it occasionally when there was a huge occasion. It made her feel royal, as though she was a princess and Allison was rather pleased that the goblet would be playing a role in her sweet little revenge. It was just going to be a minor role but still, it thrilled her that something Scorpius gave her would be used to deal with him.

_Sweet._

A light brown liquid swirled in the goblet as she placed it to her lips. A sweet smell of roses rose to her nose and she took in the aroma with distaste. It was a Polyjuice Potion, brewed to turn her into a replica of Rose.

It would have taken her days, weeks or even months to have brewed it, and she probably wouldn't even have the know how to do it, so she came up with a simpler solution. She nicked it from her Potions master's cabinet while he wasn't around and had added a strand of Rose's auburn locks into it later on in the day. This way, there was no way anything could have gone wrong with the Potion. And she was sure that the strand of hair she had personally plucked from Rose's scalp didn't belong to a non-human, unless Rose had some other secret.

She felt the liquid trickle down her throat and a strange tingly sensation before her image changed and she found herself to be Rose. She grinned. Part one had been a success.

Now for part two.

Allison trudged out of the girls dormitory. She had fed Rose a sleeping potion so she wouldn't interfere with her plans for the next one hour and now all she had to do was find Scorpius… and a hot guy.

She strolled around Scorpius's favourite haunts and spotted him at a corner of the library.

_Perfect, _she thought.

He hadn't spotted her yet, and that was the way Allison wanted. Where was the fun if he saw her now? It would seem too fake and he would immediately sense a ploy in it. No, she was going to pretend to be sneaky, when the only thing she had in mind was to play a seductress and let Scorpius be the poor bystander.

She looked around for a possible target to lay her plan on. It was a good thing Rose was fairly attractive, she thought. If she had been nasty looking, that part of the plan would not have been easy. But then again, Scorpius would not have been attracted to her. _Oh, never mind, _Allison sighed and resumed her search.

At that moment, Craig bumped into her.

"Hey! Watch it!" he scorned.

Allison smirked, and let a seductive smile rise from her lips.

"Hey Craig, what are you doing today?" she blinked her eyelashes and edged closer towards him.

"Aren't you that goody two shoes, Rose?" Craig asked. "What are you doing?"

"Nothing. Besides, you haven't answered my question, why should I answer yours?" Allison flirted and placed her arm on Craig's sleeve.

"Dude, this is so weird. I never knew you were like this in real life. Always thought you were that namby-pamby little girl who had her head stuck in books."

"Shows to see you should never judge a book by its cover."

Allison laughed and Craig a crooked grin appeared on his face.

"Yeah. So what do you want from me?" he queried. "Girls like you don't behave like this for no rhyme or reason."

"Hmm… don't know. Just want to get back at that miser Scorpius, cheated me out of a relationship. Said he would bring me out for dinner, never did come. Feeling kind of down right now, and I could seriously use some company," Allison said.

"Scorpius, that jerk. Well, he tried to attack me during Divination class with his wand. Albus stopped him though. But I still want to get back at him as well. What do you want to do?"

"Just don't tell anyone about our meeting," she cooed and ran a finger across his jaw.

He rose his eyebrows and she smirked.

She reached her arms out tucking them underneath his and pulled him towards her so that their lips met in a tight, passionate kiss.

She held on to him, her nails digging into his skin, her tongue urging his, so that that he wouldn't back away too soon. The plan wouldn't work if it lasted too short.

She kept her ears on alert for any sign that Scorpius had witnessed everything because frankly, she wasn't in the mood to kiss any guy right then and she was sure that by now, she knew every part of Craig's mouth. It was getting boring.

After she was sure she heard a '_thump_' or a gasp, she released herself from Craig and turned around.

Indeed, Scorpius was spotted them. In fact, he was staring so hard, Allison was sure his eyeballs were about to pop out of their sockets. The book in his hand had landed on the floor and he had made no attempt to pick it up or do anything else, but stare at her.

Allison could see that Scorpius's fists were trembling, and the gobsmacked expression had faded into a thunderous one.

Allison feigned shock and shrieked.

"Scorpius!"

He slammed his fist down on a shelf and stormed away, his thunderous expression still present. And Allison could see what it clearly stated, Scorpius was furious with Rose, and her plan had succeeded.

Allison allowed a tiny smirk to appear on her face.

Part two of the revenge, complete.

**How many people are really furious with me now? (See a couple of hands waving like crazy in the crowd) Oh dear. Did you get the last part of the chapter? For the benefeit of those who didn't, I'll give a brief explanation. Allison, in a ploy to get her revenge, she stole Polyjuice Potion from the Potions master's cabinet and added a strand of Rose's hair so she would look like Rose. Then she went about to find Scorpius, and once she found him, she made sure that he spotted her kissing another guy so that Scorpius would get mad at Rose and she would in turn get her revenge. Is that clear enough? I should think so. **

**This is part one of the ending, there should be four parts in all, plus an epilogue, which I am still in the midst of debating about it. Should I include it? Please tell me in your reviews when you review. Ok, thanks for reading this chapter and hope you enjoyed it. Thanks:)**


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter**

**AN: Wow, look at the number of Allison haters out there. I got a feeling I have to run. Oh well... Last week I asked if any of you wanted an epilogue, for those who want it, please include it in your review this time, if you forgot the last time. If not, I might not write the epilogue. Ok, I hope you enjoy this chapter. Happy Merry Christmas to you all:)**

**elimac57: Glad to know you like the story:) Hope you enjoy this chapter:) Lets pray that I'll write the epilogue.**

**101-silentwhispers: Geez, so many caps in your review. Is that a good or bad thing? Can I pray it's a good thing because you feel passionate about the story? Ok, I can dream about it. Anway, hope you enjoy this chapter, or at least stop screaming at Allison, though the latter might be impossible:)**

**hpswst101: I agree with you. Allison is rather cut-throat, you don't want to mess around with her in the story. I hope you like this chapter though. Thanks:)**

**Joelle8: I hate Allison too, and I think many people out there as well. I know that you probably won't forgive her but at least I hope you enjoy this chapter:) **

**Cookie-Dough-Always: Glad to know that you aren't that mad at me:) I'll definitely fix the mess I created in the story and I don't think you have to wait long. Just this, and one more chapter:) Thanks for the review, hope you enjoy this chapter!**

**XxrandomxX: I get what you mean by that the story is just drama, which is rather tiring to read at times. It's like an adreline rush with no stopping. I'll try to bear that in mind and include some more peaceful moments in the story:) I'm afriad this is going to be another adreline rush chapter, so I hope you still enjoy it though:) Thanks for your advice! I'll try to include some Sarah and albus fluff as well:)**

Chapter 11: Sleep, it's better than reality

Scorpius stared into the cloudless grey sky. He could feel his heart being ripped into pieces. Shred by shred and he gripped the handlebars tightly. Flashes of Rose kissing Craig wouldn't stop tormenting him and it was making him weary with grief and melancholy. He couldn't stand it.

Life was just so unfair. Wasn't it?

True, he had been blessed with good looks, he was fairing rather well in terms of his education and girls were jumping at the chance to go out with him. Yet, in his past four years of dating, not one girl had lasted more than two months, besides Allison, but then again, she had betrayed him. And when he finally thought that there was a glimmer of hope that he may have a lasting relationship with Rose, he found her kissing some other guy.

Sometimes, he just hated his life.

Why couldn't god make him more like Albus? Albus may not have been as good looking, or as smart, but at least he had a long lasting relationship with somebody that he liked.

Scorpius slammed his fist down on the railings and a sharp pain shot up his arm. He stifled a groan and cursed. He didn't want to experience the hurt that he currently felt again. He swore to himself, _I'm never going to fall in love. _Problem was, how could that happen when he was still in love with Rose?

Now, he seriously hated his life.

***

"You seem rather cheerful today," Sarah observed.

"Yah," Albus nodded.

"That's quite a nice change seeing as how moody you have been in the past few days. So what's gotten you into such high spirits?" she queried, curious.

"Nothing much."

Albus shrugged and Sarah pouted at him as though she was a small kid.

"Ok, fine. I can finally be free from meddling in Rose and Scorpius's business! You see, Scorpius had liked Rose this whole time, and I finally managed to convince him to tell her about how he feels!" he cheered.

"Really? That's great!" Sarah agreed before narrowing her eyes, "Wait, you mean all this time, when you were pulling a long face on our dates, you were actually worried over someone else's relationship?"

Albus blinked at Sarah and a guilty smile crossed his face.

"How could you!"

Albus backed a few inches. "I'm really sorry Sarah. It's just that one was my best friend, the other was my cousin. How could I not be bothered? You aren't angry with me right?" He shot her his best puppy dog face.

Sarah's mad expression faded as she looked at him. "Of course I'm not angry at you. I mean, it would have been heartless if you just stood by and did nothing. Besides, Rose is my best friend, and I don't enjoy seeing her in a down mood."

Albus heaved a sigh of relief, but it was cut short when an impish grin crossed Sarah's face.

"What?" he said cautiously before he was ambushed by a tickling fit from Sarah.

"What… ha… ha… is this… Stop…. ha…. please… stop!" he cried under Sarah's merciless hands.

"This is punishment for not putting our relationship first in front of other people's relationship," Sarah told him.

"I'll stop this thing, but only if you promise me that you wouldn't put Rose and Scorpius's relationship before ours. Or at least tell me so that I can help."

"Oh… Oh… Ok. I… promise…. Please… stop!"

Albus gasped for air the moment Sarah's fingers left his side.

"Remind me, never to do anything to irritate you ever again," Albus said.

Sarah scoffed, "If you really did anything, tickling wouldn't even be on the list."

"All the more I shouldn't do it."

"Hey Albus," Sarah said.

"Yeah?"

"Now that you, we, don't have to worry about Rose and Scorpius anymore, why don't we focus on _our _relationship," she said edging nearer towards Albus.

Albus grinned, "Thought you would never ask. Sneak to my room for dinner again?"

Sarah was about to reply when they heard an exasperated gasp from the doorway.

"Guys, you wouldn't believe this!"

Amanda exclaimed, before bursting into their sight, panting.

"Yeah?" Albus and Sarah said, slightly annoyed that they had been disturbed.

"There's a rumour going around that Scorpius likes Rose."

"We heard."

"The thing is, she was spotted kissing Craig at the library just now!"

Sarah shot a worried glance at Albus. That was not good.

"Looks like we still got a problem on our hands Al."

***

Rose could not understand why was it that wherever she went that evening, murmuring and curious glances seemed to trail her with wary and suspicion. It irritated her to no end, and the pounding headache she had clearly did not help.

She looked at her watch, it was half past six. She wanted to find Scorpius, to tell him that she would like to go out for lunch with him. However, he hadn't been in the boy's dormitory, or his usual haunts. She was entertaining the thought of putting off the search to find him, and tell him her decision later over dinner. After all, he did say she had until ten o'clock. There were still at least three hours to go.

Shrugging, she decided to head back to the dormitory so she could complete her homework when she saw Scorpius at the staircase. She let out a smile.

"Oh there you are Scorpius."

But instead of a polite greeting, she was greeted by a dark scowl, surprising her.

"Hi Rose. I was hoping I wouldn't bump into you. Sorry got to go."

He walked past her and headed towards the quidditch pitch. Rose could not understand what had just passed between them, however, she couldn't afford hesitating to figure it out. She called after him.

"Scorpius, what's wrong? Why are you so angry?"

Scorpius stopped in his tracks and allowed himself to turn to face Rose.

"You. That's what. Next time you want to make out with another boyfriend of yours. Maybe you should consider choosing a more private area."

Rose was stumped. What in the world had possessed him to say something so cruel? She had no idea what he had been uttering about. Making out with another boyfriend of hers? When had she done such a thing? She didn't even have another boyfriend for god's sake!

She ran after Scorpius only to bump into Sarah.

"Oh Sarah, what the hell is going on? Scorpius told me that…"

"Rose calm down. I know what Scorpius told you. I heard it just now," Sarah coaxed.

"What's going on? Why did he say that?"

Sarah gritted her teeth, should she tell Rose about the rumours that were going around the school, or should she just remain silent about it? Rose looked a wreck of befuddlement and hurt and Sarah figured it would be best if she heard about it sooner.

"There's been rumours. They said that you were seen kissing Craig at the library."

"What? I would never do that! There must have been some sort of mistake!" Rose cried.

"I know you wouldn't do that."

"I can't believe that Scorpius actually believes that!" she said, on the verge of tears.

Sarah didn't know what to do. She pulled Rose into a comforting hug.

"Don't cry Rose. I'm not sure how to say it but apparently as it goes, it was Scorpius who supposedly saw you two… kissing."

"What?" Rose was horrified. "He must have seen the wrong person then, it couldn't have been me! I got to find him!"

Rose pulled herself away from Sarah and rush in the direction Scorpius had headed, ignoring Sarah's calls to get her to get back. She had to clear things up with Scorpius and let him know that it was all a mistake. That it hadn't been her he had seen and someone else who probably looked like her. After so long, he had finally asked if she wanted to go out with him, she wasn't about to let it go down the gutter. If only she had agreed to it when he had suggested it, she probably wouldn't be in such a situation now. Still, the milk had been spilt and it was her responsibility to clear up any misunderstanding between them. She had to find Scorpius.

In the midst of the crowd, Rose managed to find a head of messy blonde hair and she scrambled towards the figure.

"Scorpius, it's all a mistake. You must have seen the wrong person. We need to talk badly!"

She said, after confirming that it was Scorpius.

"Yah, like there are many students at Hogwarts who have curly auburn hair with the name Rose," Scorpius shot back without stopping, leaving Rose to try and keep up with his fast pacing.

"That may seem like me but it really isn't."

"Then can you tell me what you were doing at five plus this evening?"

Rose was speechless. She had no idea what happened between that time frame, all she knew was that she woke up at around six o'clock and found herself in bed.

"I was sleeping."

Scorpius let out a mocking laugh, "You expect me to believe you. Do you even have any witnesses?"

"Why don't you trust me?"

"I've been betrayed one time too many. Is that a good enough reason? And besides I think you made it rather clear that you weren't interested in going out with me when you didn't reply my question this afternoon."

"Scorpius, you told me that I could take my time to consider."

"Most girls would have agreed on the spot if they were interested."

"I just didn't want to make the wrong decision. Why don't you just believe that I wasn't the one who… who… whom you saw?"

"You don't give me a reason to."

Scorpius spat and Rose recoiled heart-broken. He had jaded her pride and her dignity by calling her a liar and a cheat and she had clearly lost his trust. He no longer liked her, she was sure, and she was all alone now, with everyone gossiping about her two-timing act.

For the seventh time that week, Rose cried.

***

"Any bets where Rose is going to be?" Albus asked lying on the couch.

"No idea. She probably wants to be alone now if Scorpius doesn't believe it's not her who kissed Craig," Sarah replied.

"Doubt he would believe that it wasn't her. I mean, he's not exactly stubborn, but he's been betrayed before and he probably thinks Rose is the same."

"Albus! Rose is way different from Allison. How could he think that Rose would betray him like Allison did. He's been friends with you and Rose and probably knew her longer than I knew you!" Sarah protested.

Albus rolled his eyes, "He did see Rose kissing Craig and even though he probably knows that Rose wouldn't do that. All evidence is pointing that Rose did in fact do that. I know she's framed but Scorpius, I'm afraid he wouldn't think that far."

Just then, Rose appeared at the doorway with tears streaming down her cheeks and her hair in a mess.

"Rose!" they both exclaimed.

"Albus…" she sniffed, indicating that she wanted to have a talk with Albus in private.

"Ok, I'll leave you guys for a moment," Sarah said and got out.

"Yes Rose?" Albus asked, sitting up right.

"I didn't kiss Craig, I would never. You have to believe me."

"Of course you wouldn't do that. I believe you."

Rose sobbed, "Why is it Scorpius just doesn't believe me? He insists that the person he saw was me!"

"Rose stop crying," he comforted, "I think you were framed. Some jealous girl probably heard that Scorpius likes you and decided to have their revenge. I don't know how, but I know it isn't you. Scorpius has never been in a real relationship before. The only one he had was with Allison and then she betrayed him."

"I know that. I just wish that he would trust me a little more. I'm not like Allison."

"No, you're not. Scorpius doesn't know you well enough."

"What should I do now? Everybody thinks I'm a slut and Scorpius won't even listen to a word I said," she cried.

Albus looked at his cousin. "I'll go have a talk with him. He may change his mind after I have a word with him."

"Albus, I'm starting to think that I'm not cut out for relationships. Something always gets in the way. Maybe you should just forget about explaining anything to Scorpius and just let everything pass. Things may get better faster that way."

"Rose… Scorpius thinks that he isn't cut out for relationships either. You just have to keep on trying. A real relationship is one which overcomes many obstacles. I'm not going to give up on the both of you after such a long time and you aren't giving up on yourself either," Albus said.

"Wait, all this time you were the one giving advice to Scorpius and me?" Rose practically hollered.

"Erm… Guilty as charged. Hey, you are my cousin and he's my best friend, if there was a better candidate than me, I would have gladly stepped aside!"

"You knew that he liked me right from the start!"

"Yeah, only last week, but I figured, I shouldn't be telling each other your secrets. Who knew this would happen?"

"Albus, you really think it'll work out between Scorpius and I?" Rose was dubious.

"Yes. But you have to keep trying, and I'll try to do my part of clearing most of the misunderstanding," Albus told her.

"Thanks Albus, I hope everything works out."

**This was a rather rushed chapter. But I wanted to get the chapter out by this morning so please pardon any mistakes that you may find in this chapter. I figured that Allison had enough screen time so she won't be appearing in the next two chapters. Another reminder to tell me if you want the epilogue. I need at least four 'yes' before I'll write it and as of now, I only have two. Ok, thanks for all the favourites, alerts and reviews! Happy Merry Christmas!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer:I don't own Harry Potter. **

**AN: I haven't updated for a while, so I sincerely apologise for the late update. It's only been a week, but I feel it's cruel to leave you hanging after Allison's crazy messed up plot. I have a feeling I've said this way too often but still, to those who reviewed, alerted and favourited, thanks:) It's been my source of inspiration to churn this out. Alright, on with the story!**

**GardenRiver: Don't worry, someone will definitely clear up the misunderstandings:) And I will be writing the epilogue just in case you were wondering:) Thanks for reviewing, I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

**hpswst101: Yes! Finally someone who sees it from Scorpius's perspective! He does have a reason not to believe Rose, although Rose would never do something like that and does deserve a little sympathy. I'm glad that there's someone who understand what Scorpius is going through without having the opinion that he's way too paranoid and stuff. Hope you enjoy this chapter though:) Thanks for the review!**

**Cookie-Dough-Always: I'll definitely clear things up. Just hope you like the way I did it:) I will be writing the epilogue so I hope you will enjoy it as well as the rest of the story! There's only like two more chapters before it ends. Thanks for the review:)**

**101-silentwhispers: NO! Scorpius obviously did not tell anyone about Rose kissing Craig! He loves her too much to do that. As for Lysander, he won't be adding his two cents about Rose and get hexed by anybody! I love the characters too much to do that. Anyway, I have a feeling that you won't be so hostile towards Lysander in a moment. It's a hint, but well, read on. This chapter's quite a twist:) I know you want an epilogue, just wish that sometimes you could write your option in the review and NOT in the reply to my PM. Thanks for the review and I hope you enjoy this chapter:) **

Chapter 12: Misgiving or Forgiving

"It doesn't take a genius to figure it out that you are here to persuade me that Rose is innocent," Scorpius muttered coldly as Albus grinned sheepishly at him.

"I have a feeling you know me too well Scorpius."

"It's kind of obvious seeing that it's the main topic of our conversation nowadays and this is relatively huge news for you."

Albus furrowed his eyebrows at Scorpius's tone.

"I was hoping that some time alone would actually help, but it seems that your mood is still as gloomy."

"It's actually better now. Just now, I felt like tearing the whole library apart with Craig along with it," Scorpius scoffed. "And you can't blame me for still being gloomy. How would you feel if someone you liked was found cheating on you?"

Albus had no reply this time. He had only been in one relationship, and it had been a fairly successful one with no break ups or major hitches, certainly no cheating was involved as well. Albus could not imagine how Scorpius felt with two betrayals, but he believed that the feeling must have been terrible.

"Come on Scorpius…"

"See? You don't know how it feels like and you want me to forget about it and happily go on a relationship with her? I can't do it, really I can't!"Scorpius said, pounding his fist against the stone walls along the corridors.

"I know the feeling is terrible, but Rose really didn't do it. Why can't you just believe that fact? She doesn't deserve the punishment for something she didn't do!"Albus defended.

"You think I don't want to? I want to, but how sure are you that Rose did not do it? It's her word against so many witnesses' word. To add on, she didn't have an alibi for that very moment. Do you know how hard it is to believe her when there is no evidence?"

"I… don't know," Albus stammered. "But Rose would clearly never do such a thing! Hasn't it come across you that she could have been framed by someone? Who knows how the person did it, but it could have been possible."

"The Rose I know would never betray me, but I'm starting to wonder if there even is a Rose I know. I'm sorry, I just can't believe you right now. You're Rose's cousin, you would say anything to help her."

Albus sighed, trying to convince Scorpius that Rose did not kiss Craig was turning out to be a near impossible task. He had his mind set so firmly on the fact that he was betrayed, that he was starting to get paranoid.

"I just wanted everything to work out between you guys."

"Thanks for the help Albus, but I really wish to be left alone now."

Albus nodded and turned away despondently. If that talk was meant to improve the relationship between Rose and Scorpius, it definitely didn't fulfil its purpose. Scorpius seemed to be scornful of even him now. The talk had been a complete failure. Albus didn't know what to do now, except hope for the best, and pray that Scorpius would finally see the light of it all.

***

Lysander knew that probably everyone who was close friends with Rose thought that he was a jerk, that he was a big fat liar, one who had cheated on Rose. What they didn't know, was that all of his actions were staged deliberately for Rose to see, so that she would form that opinion of him. He wasn't really a cheater, just a big ignorant fool who wanted to make up for his past mistakes.

True, he _was _guilty of ignoring Rose and being caught up in his quidditch training, but his faults ended there. It was only after he had made up with Rose, (the day when Posse and Scorpius got together) when he found out by chance that she liked Scorpius. Thus, he decided to play the matchmaker to bring the two together, knowing that Rose would never be truly happy with him. Hence, the decision of breaking up with Rose was made. Not wanting Rose to feel guilty because he thought she was cheating on him, he decided to pretend that his was two-timing her, so that he in turn would be the guilty party. Therefore, only he and Linar was aware of the ploy up till then.

The break up had went smoothly as planned, Rose ran to Scorpius and Lysander could barely disguise his delight went he found Rose kissing Scorpius at the corner of the school. He knew it wouldn't be long before Scorpius broke up with his own girlfriend and the two could be together. But as though the road for the pair wasn't treacherous enough, this new problem had to pop up.

_The news that Scorpius witnessed Rose kissing Craig_.

When he had heard of the news, he was appalled, unable to believe his ears. Not that many people could believe it either. Firstly, Rose had never appeared to be the type who had the habit of kissing guys that she met, whether she found them good looking or not. Secondly, there was no way the Rose he knew would have betrayed Scorpius by kissing his arch-enemy, Craig. The fact that she would do something like that was preposterous.

Lysander believed that Rose was innocent, she would never do something like that. But everything about the plot was so confusing, Lysander could feel his head spinning just thinking about it. There were more than one witness to the scene and all of them had claimed it was Rose, the chances of it being a simple misidentification was very low. So what could it have been? Perhaps Rose had been hexed into doing it, and then cast with a memory charm so she wouldn't remember a thing. Lysander guessed it would be something to that extend. If only he could find evidence for it. The whole thing was frustrating.

He was no longer with Rose, her friends and family probably hated him to the core, she probably did to, but he still loved her, and he was willing to do anything to make her happy, even if that meant breaking up with her and pinning the blame on himself. So what was finding a little bit of evidence? If you exclude the fact that it was going to be tough to actually acquire it.

Lysander sighed and sauntered into the potions dungeon for lessons.

The dungeon was still empty as there were still five more minutes till class started. Lysander settled his bag on the floor and whipped out his textbook to do a little revision. It was his worst subject so he made it a habit that he went through his notes occasionally when there was spare time.

Just then, a long dark shadow draped over him and Lysander looked up to see a weary and beaten Professor Slughorn with a frown etched on his face.

"Erm… good afternoon Professor Slughorn," he greeted, still rather shocked by the Professor's sudden appearance.

"Oh… you're here. Afternoon," Professor Slughorn didn't seem to have noticed him until just then. After a moment the Professor turned back to face him. He paused for a while and Lysander watched him with a quizzing expression.

"Did you happen to see a cylinder containing polyjuice here in the dungeon?"

Polyjuice? Lysander shrugged, he had never seen one in his life. But something was nagging at him, like there was something he had to remember. Something that had been holding his attention rather recently.

"Where could that bottle have gone to? I'm sure it was still there yesterday morning," Professor Slughorn mumbled to himself.

Lysander shot up upon hearing that. The thing that was nagging him finally clicked and he realise what it was.

"Professor Slughorn, do you mean it disappeared yesterday?"Lysander enquired.

Professor Slughorn nodded. "Most probably. It wasn't there this morning." More enthusiastically, he added, "Did you see it somewhere?"

Lysander shook his head apologetically. "I didn't, I'm sorry."

Professor Slughorn slouched with disappointment and walked away. Although, Lysander felt rather sorry for Professor Slughorn, he couldn't help but feel a sense of ecstasy as an idea rushed into his head. Potions may have been one of his worst subject, but he knew the purpose of a polyjuice potion, it could be used to acquire the form of another person. And according to the Professor, it had gone missing yesterday.

Lysander smiled, if his hunch was correct, Rose was innocent, and he knew how she could have been framed. Now all he had to do was find Scorpius and tell him about it.

***

Scorpius held back a scowl as Lysander popped into his sight.

"What do you want from me? I didn't steal your ex-girlfriend in case you haven't heard the rumours yet."

Lysander frowned, "Looks like you still haven't forgiven Rose. I heard the rumours and decided to come here to talk to you about it. Not because I thought you stole my ex-girlfriend."

"Another one of those people trying to convince me that Rose is innocent," Scorpius grumbled before continuing. "What's it to you anyway? You cheated on Rose."

"Oh god, this is going to be hard to explain," Lysander rolled his eyes.

Scorpius was getting annoyed with peering out of the door, staring at the one person who wasn't exactly his friend. He deliberated slamming the door on his face, but at that instant, Lysander spoke up.

"Forget about me first. I just want to tell you that Rose is innocent, and that she was most probably framed."

"Many people told me that. If you have nothing else to tell me, maybe you could do me the favour of leaving first," Scorpius hissed and pushed the door forward.

Lysander placed his foot between the door and the wall. "Well, I have a hunch on how she was framed. You can choose not to listen, but I'll say it anyway."

Scorpius sighed and released his grip on the door before he headed for his desk, pretending he wasn't interested.

"Say whatever you want. And when you leave, close the door."

He heard a soft laugh escaping Lysander's mouth before he continued with what he wanted to say.

"Professor Slughorn told me before Potions class started that a bottle of his Polyjuice Potion had disappeared probably yesterday."

"Yeah, like I care. What's the use of telling me all this?" Scorpius said darkly.

"The Polyjuice could have been used to turn someone with a grudge on Rose into a replica of her, so that it would appear to be her who was kissing Craig. And the potion was missing this morning when Professor Slughorn searched his cabinet. It could have been stolen yesterday."

"How sure can you be?" Scorpius asked doubtfully.

"I can't. It's all a hunch. You can choose to believe it or ignore it. You're given the benefit of doubt. But ask yourself, do you think that Rose would really kiss other guys? I personally find that difficult to believe," Lysander told him.

"Why are you doing this? I want to know."

Lysander swallowed a gulp of air. "I love Rose. But I had been such a fool, ignoring her all the time. And then when I finally started to pay attention to her, I found out that she likes you. So I pretended to cheat on her, forcing her to break up with me and go with you."

Scorpius could barely believe his ears.

"Why don't you fight for her?"

"She will only be happy with you. If I wasn't sure of it, I wouldn't have done so."

Scorpius was rendered speechless, he didn't know if it was because he now knew that Rose actually liked him, or that Lysander was actually a nice person.

Seeing that Scorpius needed time to digest what he had just heard, Lysander made his way away from the door.

"I'm not sure what you're going to do now, but I hope you can display some trust in Rose. And please don't let anyone know about what I did, especially Rose. I'll leave you alone to think about it."

Scorpius heard the door close and he let out a loud groan of frustration. He was clueless on what to do now. To go out with Rose, tell her that he believed she was innocent, or deny his feelings and remain his cold exterior towards her. He was confused. If only there was someone who could tell him what to do.

_I hope you can display some trust in Rose. _

Lysander's words sounded in his mind and Scorpius gritted his teeth. He was wrong, there were people who were telling him what to do. It just happened that he was way too stubborn to listen. Now, he prayed that it wasn't too late to listen to their advice.

***

Rose could see them heading towards her. A devious smirk perched on their lips as they sashayed over.

Leading the group of five was Posse, her blonde hair swayed with the wind and her eyes eyed Rose with contempt. Rose felt a quiver run down her spine as she backed into wall behind her.

"What do you want?" she asked, her voice trembled slightly as she faced them.

Posse spoke, "Oh look, the little flirt is a coward. Scared of us, Weasely? You should be. Nobody messes with _our_ Scorpius and gets away with it." The girls beside her nodded in agreement.

"If you are talking about the library incident, it really wasn't me who kissed Craig," Rose said in her defence.

"Oh yeah, and it was someone who looked like you," Posse commented sarcastically. "Don't lie, we know it was you. Slut!"

"I'm not a slut!" Rose protested. "If anyone is one, it's got to be you!"

Posse gasped, "What… what... what did you say?"

"Calm down Posse, there's no need to get angry with her. She's just some idiotic flirt," her friend reminded her.

"No. We must help Scorpius take revenge on her," Posse snapped, then turning to Rose, she said. "Scorpius dumped me to go with you. And you, instead of going out with him, you broke his heart by kissing that wretched Craig."

"I repeat for the last time. I did not kiss Craig. You may not believe me, but I don't care, I'm going to the library. Excuse me," Rose said and tried to squeeze out of the tight semicircle of people that surrounded her.

"No chance. You are not leaving for anywhere until we get our revenge," Posse said and whipped out her wand.

Rose whipped out her wand as well and glared at Posse, poised to defend if a spell was cast at her. But before either party could make their move, a low bellow was heard.

"Leave Rose alone. Anyone who touches her is going to have to go through me first."

Rose was paralyzed with shock when she saw who was her knight in shining armour. She couldn't believe her eyes. It was him. Scorpius.

**Twelve chapters down, now only two more to go. Chapter 13 and the Epilogue! Yes, I'll be writing the epilogue, in case you were wondering:) Alright, for all those people who used to hate Lysander because he 'cheated' on Rose, since you already the know the reason why he did it, I hope you won't hate him anymore. He's actually quite nice. Ok, the next chapter should come rather soon, maybe in two days, since I'm halfway through with it, so until then:) Thanks. **


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer: I really don't own Harry Potter.**

**AN: This is going to be the second last chapter of the story. Basically, the last one is the epilogue, so enjoy. And happy belated new year to all of you out there:) Oh and for those who didn't read chapter 12, please read it, since it's kind of crucial to the plot. **

**Cookie-Dough-Always: I updated:) I think you might like this chapter, since it's the chapter I think everyone has been waiting for. I'm not going to give away any spoilers so read on. Though I have the feeling you know what it's about already. thanks for the review:) Enjoy!**

**101-silentwhispers: Haha, I did that to Lysander because I am the author of the story:) Ok, just kidding. I figured, I prefered a nice character to a bad guy and less cursing so I did it. I think you are going to love this chapter, seriously. It's the second last chapter. You know what to expect right? I told you already. Thanks for the review:) Enjoy!**

**hpswst101:Yeah, it's kind of confusing with how everyone is actually hiding behind a mask, but then again, in life, not everybody is what they seem to be. It's the same in the story, there's a mix of both good and bad lies only to a more dramatic extend than in real life. Though I suspect, there might be a few such dramatic cases. Thanks for reviewing:) Hope you enjoy this chapter!**

Chapter 13: The Confession comes with Invitation

He could see the shock in her eyes quickly melt into disbelief and his name rolled off her tongue as she stared awestruck at him.

"Scorpius."

"Rose," he called back, barely aware of the fact that there were five other girls staring at him with their mouth agape.

"Scorpius! What are you doing? Siding with her? We're trying to help you here!" Posse shrieked.

"Sorry Scorpius," the other girls apologised and slipped away, trying to pull Posse along, but she broke away from their grip.

"You guys can leave. But I'm staying here until that slut gets what she deserves!"Tears rolled down Posse's puffy red cheeks as she said it, and the girls left obediently.

"Scorpius! I really didn't kiss Craig, you have to believe me!" Rose told him, desperation clung to her voice.

"Don't tell me you are going to believe this slut and not your eyes!" Posse sniffed.

"Don't call her a slut!" Scorpius snapped. "I believe that she wouldn't do such a thing, and even if she did, I'll forgive her."

"No, Scorpius, you've fallen for her trick. Now she's going to toy with you! You can't just become her play thing," Posse cried and pulled at his robe.

"I know you have my welfare at heart, and I am thankful for that, but I will not allow you to be so harsh with Rose. Even if it's a stupid trick and she's going to play with me and dump me aside later. I love her and I'm going to give it a second chance. So please respect my decision," Scorpius uttered coldly to Posse.

Posse shook her head and wiped the tears from her eyes. "Don't do this," she pleaded. Scorpius pulled his arm away from her and walked to Rose who was staring at him with eyes as big as saucers. Giving him a glimpse of her clear blue eyes.

"Scorpius," Rose mumbled.

"Ignore Posse. Are you free now, I think we both need to tell each other something," Scorpius asked her and Rose replied softly.

"Yes."

"Good." Scorpius grabbed her arm and brought her outside to the fountain planted at the centre of the school's courtyard.

Using his hands, he brushed off a pile of snow that rested on the edge of the fountain and took a seat. Rose followed him and sat down on the ledge as well.

It was freezing cold outside, but being right beside Rose made him feel all warm and snug, as though he was tucked in his bed at home. There was still an invisible wall of tension separating them, but it seemed thinner than before, both being more relax, just speechless.

"I believe you wanted to talk," Rose started, breaking the silence.

"Yeah," Scorpius said.

"I wanted to tell you that I believe you, that you didn't kiss Craig. I've been thinking about it lately, and I think that it's idiotic and ridiculous that I took so long to realise that you aren't that kind of person."

"Oh Scorpius, I would never betray you. And I've been wanting to tell you that I would love to go out with you on that date for a while but I'm not sure if the offer's still standing."

Scorpius smiled at her and tucked a lock of stray auburn hair behind her ears.

"Didn't you hear me just now? I told them that I love you, of course the offer still stands!"

"Just wanted to make sure after everything. Life has been such a mess as of late."

"Then why don't you ask me if I really do love you?"

"Do you really love me?"

"I do Rose. I do love you. But I don't really think a one-way relationship would work out well," Scorpius said playfully and Rose hit him lightly on the shoulder.

"I love you too Scorpius. It's not just a one-way relationship."

"I thought so. Just had to make sure as well," Scorpius said, earning him another punch.

"So where do we take it from here? After the date?" Rose beseeched.

Scorpius looked at her, "I was hoping that perhaps you had some ideas. The only thing I can suggest is going out on more dates."

"I don't mind. I think that's a rather nice idea. I've only been on two dates in my life."

"Really?" Scorpius quipped with mock disbelief. "A pretty girl like you should have been out on more dates. Though I seriously wouldn't mind helping you make up for all the lost ones."

"Oh Scorpius, I never knew you had a funny bone in you," Rose commented.

"Shows that you can't judge a book by its cover…" Scorpius voice softened as he lost himself in Rose's gaze.

Their breaths dropped to a shallow rasp before they locked their arms in a tight embrace, and met each other in a passionate kiss.

***

"This looks promising," Albus commented to Sarah, watching the two lovebirds kiss in the falling snow.

"What promising? Let's hope this is the last of their troubles," Sarah told him.

"We ought to get some time to ourselves you know. Lately, it's been all about them Albus. Don't you think?"

"At least now they are together. That's a good thing," Albus said.

"Albus! You jerk! How can you care more about other people than us…"

Sarah never got to finish her sentence as Albus quickly cut her short with a kiss on the lips.

But it didn't last for long as they broke apart for a brief few seconds, allowing Sarah to speak.

"Next time give me a little warning first, if not I'll run out of breath soon."

"But where would the fun be in that? Besides, we both know it was me who left you breathless, not the fact that you weren't prepared," Albus said and the two kissed again.

***

"Scorpius?" Rose stared back at Scorpius as his arms lay around her.

"Yes?"

"I seriously don't mind being in this position, but perhaps we could… you know, huddle somewhere else?"

"I like it here," Scorpius replied cheekily.

"But it's cold," Rose told him and rubbed her gloved palms together.

"You should have told me earlier. I don't think I want my girlfriend to come down with a cold on the first day together."

Rose laughed and got up. Scorpius beamed again hearing her soft laughter. How he missed hearing that cheerful and carefree tone. At that moment, he knew he had made the right decision by believing that Rose didn't kiss Craig. What he wouldn't give to hear that laugh more often.

He followed her, slipping his arm around her waist as they made their way to the shelter.

"So I'm your girlfriend now huh?" Rose asked, pressing her body close to him.

"I kissed you, asked you out on a date and you said yes. Doesn't that make you my girlfriend?" Scorpius returned her the question and Rose giggled again.

As they ambled along the corridors, Scorpius spotted Lysander standing at the corner of a pillar. He seemed to be watching them, though his face was expressionless. Scorpius couldn't help but tense up, remaining suspicious of him even after Lysander had told him. He was still Rose's ex-boyfriend, and Scorpius had learned that sometimes, it was best that you were wary of them.

Rose seemed to have spotted him as well as she gripped onto Scorpius's arm and shot an anxious look at Scorpius.

Lysander saw the exchange between the couple and rolled his eyes. When would they learn they learn to be less suspicious of people? He strolled forward casually with a grin.

"I'm not here to pick a fight Rose. I'm just glad that everything worked out alright between you two," he said and the couple instantly relaxed.

"I have to thank you for that though," Scorpius uttered and Rose shot him a bamboozled glance.

Lysander waved it off, "That was nothing. Just remember our promise."

"Of course."

"Good, then I'll be on my way now. Hope to see you guys at the Yule ball."

Scorpius shot him a tiny smile as they parted ways, leaving Rose more puzzled then ever. Not only was she clueless about what they were talking about, Scorpius was actually grateful to her ex and even smiled at him. Something had happened without her knowledge and Rose was eager to know what that was.

"Rose, quit staring at me like that," Scorpius told her.

"Then tell me what was that about."

"Can I tell you over our date please? It's quite a long story."

"When's our date then?"

"Tomorrow. I'd love to suggest some fancy restaurant, but I figured that's where I used to bring all my other girlfriends for a date so in order to make yours much more special, how does The Three Broomsticks sound?" Scorpius asked in a normal tone, trying his best to suppress the laughter rising in his throat as he watched Rose's eyes narrow into slits.

"Are you kidding me? You cheapskate," Rose lectured before laughing along with Scorpius.

"I was just kidding, tomorrow's a surprise, so I'm not going to give you any details."

Rose shrugged. "Whatever. As long as you don't try to weasel out of this date."

"Now why would I do that after spending so much time trying to weasel you into one?"

***

Rose gazed at her surrounding in amazement. The weather was perfect that day, it wasn't snowing and the temperature was slightly warmer. She found herself overlooking a waterfall and a vast bank of snow with a stretch of trees planted on it. She gasped.

"This is gorgeous! But what are we doing here?"

Scorpius smirked and revealed a picnic basket from behind his back.

"Having our date. I figured you would prefer a view of something besides pillars, walls and tables so I brought you here. Also, here, there's only the two of us. Makes it more private don't you think?"

Rose nodded.

"So, now that we have finally gone on our date, will you tell me what that was about? What happened between you and Lysander."

Scorpius sighed and pulled out a plate of steak from the basket.

"Perhaps we could eat as we talk."

Rose leaned towards the basket and pulled out two pairs of forks and knives.

"I'm eating, so you should do the talking."

"Ok. I'll talk. It was Lysander who actually convinced me to get back with you and that you weren't the one kissing Craig."

"What? He did that? I thought it was Albus, he told me he would try to talk to you."

"Apparently, he failed. I was too paranoid at that time to believe a single word he said. But well Lysander, he had a theory on how you were flamed and forced me to listen to that theory even when I didn't want to. It worked, I guess. If not I wouldn't be sitting here, having a date with you."

"Why would he do that?" Rose quipped with astonishment.

"No idea," Scorpius lied. As much as he wanted to tell Rose that Lysander wasn't a bad guy, he had made a promise to Lysander and he wanted to keep it.

Rose made a face but didn't probe any further.

She continued her meal.

"You know Scorpius?"

"Yes Rose?"

"I wish everyday could be like this."

"Me too, sadly, I personally don't think that would be possible."

"Ok Rose, I want to ask you one question."

"Sure, just ask."

"If I asked you out again, would you agree?"

"Of course!" Rose exclaimed and Scorpius smiled.

"That's great, because I wanted to ask to go out with me to the Yule Ball."

Rose's eyes widen in shock and when the words finally sank in, she flung her hands around Scorpius and pulled him close.

"I was hoping you hadn't asked anyone else out."

"I was waiting for you I guess. Just watch out for the steak, I don't want it to stain your clothes."

"I don't care. I love you Scorpius."

"Me too."

**How many of you liked this chapter? I hope you did:) We still have one more chapter to go, and I think it should be posted soon. Alright, I have this wish that my review count would actually total up to 50 after this update. I don't think that would be possible, but well, a girl can dream, right? Oh, and for all those out there who really love the story and can't get enough of it,tell me if you want a sequel. Ok? Thanks:) Happy new year!**


	14. Epilogue

**Disclaimer: Don't own Harry Potter, and this is the last time I'll announce this. Since it's the last chapter, oh well.**

**AN: Alright! The story's finally done! Rose and Scorpius are finally together:) I know this chapter is short in the extreme, but it's an epilogue and that's probably expected. School's reopening tomorrow for me, so I'll like to wish all those who have started school or starting school soon, good luck! Ok, I won't delay you any further from reading anymore. Hope you enjoy it:)**

**GardenRiver: Haha:) I'm glad you liked the story, still considering if I should write a sequel though. I figured out that it would be cruel to both the readers and the characters by pulling them apart for so long so I guess it was time that I should put them together. Hope you like the epilogue:) And thanks for your review!**

**XxrandomxX: I get what you mean about how much forced drama the sequel would have to contain, because it wouldn't really seem natural. Hmm... on the other hand, an Albus and Sarah fic, seems like a cute idea:) I'll have to consider. Ok, hope you enjoy the epilogue and thanks for the review!**

**hpswst101: I guess there should be a Triwizard tournament going on, although I probably didn't really clue it into the story. But the Triwizard Tournament started before the whole drama happened, so I figured that it wouldn't exactly be necessary to do so. true, they don't have much to hide now:) But still, you could say that problems always seem to crop up in life even when you least expected it. Hope you enjoy this chapter:) Thanks for the review!**

**101-silentwhispers:You know, I have to confess, usually I would read through my chapters for mistakes before posting them, but it was late and I was rushing when I posted the last chapter, so I was expecting many errors. I'm a person who has a major flaw with spelling and grammar. I'm flattered though:) Thanks for the compliment:) Haha, Lysander was a twist I don't think many people saw coming, it's no wonder that you went from hate to sympathy. Allison and Posse, I'll still remain firm that there will be no killing whatsoever in the story. Ok, maybe there will. But still... ok, hmm... your shout out, pretty loud. I'm still considering about the sequel so... lets wait and see. But hey, you'd be the first to know the news whichever way it is, isn't it? I'll tell you when I made my decision. Hope you enjoy the epilogue, and thanks for the review and everything:)**

**purple pear 87: Yeah, it's time those two got together and enjoyed some peace:) Sadly Scorpius doesn't have a clue as to who was the person who impersonated Rose. I was thinking of putting that into the sequel if there was one. Thanks for the review! I hope you enjoy this chapter:)**

Epilogue: Yule Ball

Rose could not believe it. The ball had started, she had been waiting for the past fifteen minutes and Scorpius was still no where in sight.

She sighed, as much as she hated standing in the middle of the dance floor with no partner, she had no plans to go off dancing with some other guy. She would wait for another five minutes, then she would find her cousin and Sarah.

"He's so going to get it when he arrives,"she mumbled irritably.

Just then, she felt a pair of hands slip around her waist and she recoiled in shock.

"I believe you said I was going to get something when I arrived."

Rose gasped, "Scorpius! Don't you ever do that again!"

"Why? I like it when you're surprised. The expression on your face. Priceless," Scorpius grinned, mocking the expression that unfolded on her face seconds ago.

"Don't you dare poke fun of me. And why were you so late? Do you know how stupid it is to be standing right here, with nobody while everybody is busily dancing away?" Rose chided.

"Isn't that supposed to be a good thing? If they are too busy with their dancing, they probably won't notice you."

"Scorpius…" Rose gave him a glare and Scorpius gazed back innocently at her.

"Fine, just tell me, why were you so late?"

"I was trying to find something," he answered and placed his hands into his pockets.

"And what is it?" Rose asked narrowing her eyes.

"Shoes."

Scorpius beamed at her and shrugged. Rose knew Scorpius was deliberately hiding something from her but she didn't probe any further. He would reveal in time to come. Right now, she should just enjoy the time she was spending with him. If only she could find out where her cousin was.

"Hey Scorpius."

"Yes?"

"Do you have any idea about where Sarah and Albus are?"

"No. But don't worry, I'm sure they are having a great time by themselves."

Rose nodded, talking to Albus could wait until later. She looked up to face Scorpius who was now positioned in front of her, her hands in his.

"Alright then, we should start dancing."

***

"Albus, remind me why are we trying to spy on Rose and Scorpius?" Sarah grumbled as she tried to keep sight of the redhead.

"Because we want to make sure that nothing goes wrong this time round."

"And what could possibly go wrong?"

"Anything. You have no idea what they are capable of."

Sarah rolled her eyes. "Yeah. I probably don't. But don't you think we should be dancing, not sitting down here and doing practically nothing? I mean Rose is big enough to handle herself, and so is Scorpius."

Albus laughed, "You're probably right, we should be dancing. It would be a pity to waste our time here."

"I'm glad you finally see my point."

"No, I just figured that we could still be watching them while we danced."

"Albus!"

"Just kidding Sarah!" Albus quickly uttered seeing her fuming expression.

"Now, has anyone told you how beautiful you look?" he flattered.

"Yes, you, when we were going out."

"Oh yeah. Never mind that then." Albus said and reached his hand out towards Sarah.

"May I have this dance?"

***

A scowl emerged on Allison's face as she spotted Scorpius and Rose dancing away gaily. Her plan had backfired, she had been forgotten and now she had to go to the ball with some uptight prefect. Her life was anything but terrific at that very moment and she didn't like it one bit.

"Erm… Allison, is it ok if I leave for a moment?" her date queried.

"Yeah, whatever," she said, disgruntled by the fact that everyone seemed to be having fun at that moment except for her. In addition, she was going to have to spend the next few minutes alone, until the prefect returned or someone asked her to dance.

The moment she was sure that the prefect was out of sight, Allison flew into rage, wrenching anything that was in her sight. A couple of students turned to stare at her but she didn't care, she wasn't even bothered that she looked a wreck. All that was on her mind was revenge, and that she was going to get back at Rose and Scorpius for ruining her chance at a perfect life.

Once she got her chance that was.

***

"Scorpius, why did you take me here?" Rose enquired. They had left the ball earlier and Scorpius had pulled her to the rose garden stating that they were simply taking a walk. But Rose just couldn't believe him. After all, Scorpius had the uncanny habit of revealing surprises everywhere.

"Why? I told you we were taking a walk."

"Don't lie to me. I know there's another reason for bringing me here."

"Fine," Scorpius relented and pulled out an object from his pocket.

"I wanted to give you this."

He opened his palm revealing a silver bracelet with their initials carved onto it.

"It's gorgeous!" Rose exclaimed as she retrieved it from his hand.

"I love it."

"Thought you might. I wanted to get you a gold one, but I figured we could start small first."

"Thank you so much Scorpius. You're the best," Rose said, gripping onto her bracelet.

Scorpius shrugged. "As long as you like it."

"I thought you said you were finding your shoes just now, you were actually trying to find this?" Rose said, referring to his comment earlier on.

"I was finding my shoes. I just happened to have placed the bracelet beside a pair of shoes so I had to find out which pair it was," Scorpius smirked.

"You and your stupid excuses." Rose shook her head. But then something seemed to strike her as her smile turned into a frown.

"What's troubling you?" Scorpius beseeched.

"I don't know Scorpius. About our relationship. I mean, what are we going to do after this? Our parents aren't exactly on the best of terms."

"Oh that."

"Yes."

Scorpius paused to think for a moment.

"You know what, it's really simple. We'll just tell our parents that we are dating."

"If I know my Dad, he will probably come after you with a wand and a hex," Rose told him.

"I know that too. But I'm confident that as long as we can show them how much we love each other, they will eventually come to terms with it. And I'm sure your mum and my mum will support us," Scorpius assured her.

"I guess you're right Scorpius. They will have to accept it one day. I just hope we don't have to wait too long for that day."

"I hope so too."

Then placing his hand on top of hers, he withdrew the silver bracelet and helped Rose put the bracelet around her wrist.

"As long as you wear that bracelet, your heart will belong with mine."

"Then I'll wear it forever," Rose said before they kissed underneath the starry night sky as two exceptionally bright stars blinked overhead.

**This story is officially over. Don't mind Allison, she has one big problem up there, so yeah. For those who want a sequel and has yet to review so, I hope you will review to tell me your choice. As of now, there may or may not be one. Ok. Now that this story is done, I can finally focus on other projects. This year is going to be one busy year and I wish all of you out there reading this story good luck. I would also love to thank all those who kindly reviewed, favourited and alerted the story:) **

**Alright, thanks and till next time,**

**Jennison**


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